North Lantau Highway


North Lantau Highway is an expressway forming part of Hong Kong's Route 8, linking Hong Kong International Airport and Lantau Island with the rest of the territory. The road has three lanes in each direction for its entire length with full-width hard shoulders for emergencies and breakdowns. The speed limit is for most of its length, the highest of any road in Hong Kong.
North Lantau Highway is in length, beginning at Airport Road on Chek Lap Kok. The road then crosses onto Lantau Island and bypasses Tung Chung New Town. The road then travels along the northern coast of Lantau Island, next to the Airport Express and Tung Chung line of the Mass Transit Railway. This section is built on reclaimed land and through various cuttings. Finally, the road climbs over Ta Shui Wan and Tsing Chau Wan to meet the Lantau Link and its bridges.

History

Background

The North Lantau Highway was built as part of the Airport Core Programme in the 1990s. The ultimate aim of the new motorway was to connect Hong Kong's urban core with the new international airport as well as associated new town development in Tung Chung. Construction commenced in June 1992 to a design by Mott MacDonald Hong Kong.

Construction and opening

Rather than tendering the project as a single contract, which would have drawn bids from only the largest international contractors, the Hong Kong government opted to split the expressway into three separate phases that would be more manageable in scale to local companies, thereby drawing a more competitive range of bids. The contract to construct the Tai Ho Section, worth HK$3.5 billion, was awarded on 8 June 1992 to the Lantau Expressway Joint Venture, of which Downer Group was the lead contractor. The Yam O Section contract, worth $1.328 billion, was awarded on 14 September 1992 to a joint venture comprising Aoki Corporation, Franki Contractors, and Tobishima Corporation. Lastly, the Tung Chung Section contract, worth $969.1 million, was awarded on 27 September 1993 to a joint venture composed of China State, Leighton Contractors, and Hochtief.
The expressway opened to traffic on 22 May 1997. In the days leading up to the opening, officers of the Agriculture and Fisheries Department rounded up about 30 cattle who had wandered onto the highway during construction, when the perimeter fence was not fully enclosed.

Sunny Bay Interchange

The Sunny Bay Interchange came into operation in 2005, allowing traffic to exit the North Lantau Highway onto the new Penny's Bay Highway. This opened up access to Penny's Bay, which was reclaimed mainly for the new Hong Kong Disneyland.

2008 flooding

On 7 June 2008, North Lantau Highway and its service road, Cheung Tung Road, were completely flooded at Caribbean Coast, Tung Chung at 6am, under rainfall as high as per hour. The highway was forced to close completely, rendering Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok inaccessible by road. With a water depth of, and the flood extending in length, some 20 vehicles were trapped on the scene by the floodwater. Another thousand vehicles were trapped in the resulting traffic jam, extending about back to the toll plaza of Lantau Link. Service was increased on the MTR Tung Chung line and Airport Express to alleviate passenger flow.
The highway was partially reopened starting from 4:00 pm that day.

Design

An early design for the North Lantau Highway was completed in the early 1980s. It was envisaged as a two-lane dual carriageway " the rugged northern coastline of Lantau". However, the plan did not proceed at that time as the airport project was shelved by the government for financial reasons.
The Chek Lap Kok airport project was resurrected in 1989 under the governorship of David Wilson. In the same year, new motorways design standards were introduced in Hong Kong. In 1990, the highway was redesigned to reflect these new standards, and to take into account higher projected usage. The North Lantau Highway, as built, is a three-lane dual carriageway with a gentler grade and curvature than the earlier iteration. Hard shoulders of 3.3 metres are also provided on either side of the expressway.
Most of the highway is built on reclaimed land. The fill for the land reclamation came from slope cuttings or marine borrow areas in Hong Kong, or was river sand imported from China.
The most significant bridge along the length of the road is located at the very end of the highway, linking Lantau and Chek Lap Kok. This multi-span structure, approximately 320 metres long, also carries a utility conduit serving the airport containing electricity, water, sewerage, telephone, and raw water connections. There are smaller bridges at Tai Ho Wan and Sham Shui Kok.

Interchanges

Traffic

The Transport Department offers traffic figures at two sections of the North Lantau Highway. The section between the western end of the highway and the Tung Chung Eastern Interchange registered annual average daily traffic of 54,410 in 2016. The section between Tung Chung and Ngong Shuen Au was busier, carrying 66,110 AADT in 2016.
Traffic on the highway has increased in recent years. Some residents and legislators have raised concerns that the new Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge will increase traffic congestion.

Current developments

A new interchange at Tai Ho Wan is under construction. This will connect the North Lantau Expressway to the Border Crossing Facilities Island, a new artificial island being built as part of the controversial Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge project. The connection between the new island and the North Lantau Expressway is actually being built under the Tuen Mun–Chek Lap Kok Link project, a new road tunnel connecting Tuen Mun to the BCF Island.
From the new interchange, a two-lane dual carriageway will run on viaducts, over the sea, to the BCF Island. The project is being built by Hong Kong contractor Gammon Construction for a contract value of HK$8.66 billion. The Highways Departments expects this to be complete by 2019.