Kai Tak Tunnel (formerly Airport Tunnel) [1982- ]

Submitted by Klaus on Thu, 10/15/2020 - 00:39
Current condition
In use
Date completed

From Wikipedia:

Kai Tak Tunnel, formerly known as the Airport Tunnel, is a tunnel in New Kowloon, Hong Kong, which connects the Kowloon Bay and Ma Tau Kok areas by going beneath the former Hong Kong International Airport (Kai Tak Airport). It is part of Route 5.

The tunnel provides a quick link between the two ends of the tunnel, as before the construction of the tunnel vehicles had to detour through Kowloon City to reach the other end. Kai Tak Tunnel is currently managed by Greater Lucky (H.K.) Company Limited.

History

Construction of the tunnel had started by 1975,but because of the difficulties in digging under the airport runway, it was not complete until 1982. The southern tube opened to two-way traffic at 3:00 pm on 29 June 1982. The second (northern) tube opened on 8 October that year. The Airport Tunnel was the first tunnel in Hong Kong to be toll-free, excluding short underpasses.

With Kai Tak Airport's shutdown in 1998, the Airport Tunnel was no longer fulfilled to its name. The Hong Kong Government announced to rename to Kai Tak Tunnel on 2 March 2006 that the tunnel, effective from 4 May 2006, after several years of consultation with groups including the Kowloon City District Council. The name was changed to commemorate the former Kai Tak International Airport.

Features

The tunnel consists of a pair of tubes of about 7 metres diameter each, 1.26 km long.

Tags

Photos that show this Place

1975
Kai Tak airport passenger terminal parking apron reclamation works including public traffic tunnel under the airport 0
1970s
Kai Tak airport cut and cover construction tunnel trench about to cross airport bounday
1970s
See more photos of this place

Comments

Kai Tak public vehicles tunnel entrance passing under old airport site
Kai Tak public vehicles tunnel entrance passing under old airport site , by IDJ

Notes from IDJ:

Probably unknown to many residents unless commuters by road to the Kowloon Bay districts and beyond is the tunnel under Kai Tak Airport. Construction of the tunnel had started by 1975, but because of the difficulties in digging under the airport runway, it was not complete until 1982. The southern tube opened to two-way traffic on 29 June 1982. The second (northern) tube opened on 8 October that year. The Airport Tunnel was the first tunnel in Hong Kong to be toll-free.

With the airport's shutdown in 1998, the Airport Tunnel no longer fulfilled to its name. The Hong Kong Government announced renaming it Kai Tak Tunnel, effective from 4 May 2006.

The tunnel consists of a pair of tubes of about 7 metres diameter each, 1.26 km long. The southern tube carries west-bound traffic from Kowloon Bay to Ma Tau Kok. A point of interest is that the eastbound tunnel branches off onto Sung Wong Toi Road. It was the only major public vehicular tunnel in Hong Kong built entirely by the open cut-and-cover technique.