Central-Wan Chai Bypass and Island Eastern Corridor Link completed

After 10 years of work, the construction of the Central-Wan Chai Bypass and Island Eastern Corridor Link in Hong Kong has been completed, and the new road is ready to open to traffic.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and guests travel to the commissioning ceremony venue in an open-air double decker via the west-bound carriageway of the Central-Wan Chai Bypass in Hong Kong on Saturday, January 19, 2019. [Photo: China Plus]

The 4.5-kilometer-long bypass project consists of a series of tunnels connecting the central part of Hong Kong Island with the eastern corridor of North Point. By diverting traffic underground, it takes cars out of the city's crowded commercial areas. It also provides an expressway for east-west traffic in Central and Wan Chai that diverts traffic from the commercial center, helping to alleviate congestion. Once the bypass opens, it will only take about five minutes to travel from Central to the Island Eastern Corridor at North Point.

The Central-Wan Chai Bypass and Island Eastern Corridor Link. [Photo: China Plus]

Putting traffic underground has benefits for the city's air quality. The Hong Kong government incorporated an air filtration system into the tunnels, which filters vehicle exhaust. The system can reportedly process 5.4 million cubic meters of automobile exhaust every hour, and can effectively eliminate at least 80 percent of the breathable soot and nitrogen dioxide in the exhaust gas. Not only that, because the bypass greatly shortens travel time across the city, 11,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions will be reduced annually, which is equal to the amount that can be absorbed by around 480,000 trees.