City of Bridges
The government argues we need more bridges, which means more taxpayer dollars to pay for them. Grace Tsoi reviews the four new controversial bridge projects in Hong Kong.
There is little doubt that Hong Kong is a city of infrastructure. We are always in the process of building something—be it a highway, a tunnel, a new MTR line or the ever-controversial Express Rail Link. With construction happening all around us, it’s easy to overlook what is really going on with the infrastructural development of our city. In this issue, we are taking a closer look at bridges—the ones that have been built, are under construction, and ones still under planning—to see whether bridges are indeed a good solution to easing Hong Kong’s traffic problems.
“Bridges are just another mode of transport connection,” says Dr. James Wang, associate professor in the department of Geography at the University of Hong Kong. “Bridges have their own merits. They can be beautiful and can even be a new landmark of Hong Kong,” he says.
Wang agrees that congestion is a big problem here. “Hong Kong’s road and transport system is constantly in a state of marginal capacity. Apart from roads on Lantau or certain new road sections, traffic jams are common sights. If there is one single traffic accident, all roads in Hong Kong will be congested,” he adds. It is a known fact that our transport system is a fragile one and Hongkongers are often faced with hideous traffic jams. However, Wang does not agree that bridge building is the only way to solve this problem—on the contrary, traffic woes may even intensify. “I don’t think that building bridges is a thorough solution to the traffic problem in Hong Kong. There is a theory in transport geography that says there will be more cars if we provide more road spaces,” Wang says.
So, more infrastructure is not the answer to improving traffic conditions. Rather, the government needs a fundamental change in its development strategy. “In urban planning, it is obvious that the Hong Kong government has a relatively conservative mentality. Just as one example, in the New Territories, there are many abandoned farmland plots that are being used for cargo storage although these lands are flat and usable. It is time for the government to adopt a new mentality and reconsider the use of these lands,” says Professor Victor Sit, director of Advanced Institute for Contemporary China Studies at the Baptist University of Hong Kong.
HONG KONG—ZHUHAI—MACAO BRIDGE