Roads in Hong Kong Island

On Hong Kong Island, the earliest route out of Victoria went around the west end of the Island to Aberdeen. Two roads were built subsequently, one over the centre of the Island and one around its eastern end. Since the opening of the Cross Harbour Tunnel in 1972, the Kowloon Peninsula has been linked with Hong Kong Island.

With the rapid development on the Island, the westerly route along Pok Fu Lam Road has been widened in stages to four lanes. To cater for the growing development on the southern Ap Lei Chau Island, two bridges were completed in 1980 and 1994 to provide direct access to this Island.

A north-south route, the section of Route 1 through the centre of the Island, comprising the Aberdeen Tunnel and grade-separated road networks at its approaches, was completed in early 1982, linking Aberdeen with Happy Valley and the Cross-Harbour Tunnel.

The Eastern Harbour Crossing, completed in 1989, connects Cha Kwo Ling on Kowloon Peninsula with Quarry Bay on Hong Kong Island.

On the north shore, a dual three-lane road runs from Central to Causeway Bay and connects to the Island Eastern Corridor, which is a dual three-lane expressway, extends 9km eastward to Chai Wan. Construction commenced in early 1981 and was completed in October 1989. The corridor is mainly built either on elevated structures along the shoreline or as a ground level road on reclaimed land. Improvement works to the corridor from North Point Interchange to Sai Wan Ho was completed in 2003.

Another highway scheme, the section of Route 4 on the north shore of the Island, was completed in January 1990. It provides a free-flow facility in an east-west direction along Connaught Road through Central via the Rumsey Street Flyover, the Pedder Street Underpass and the Harcourt Road Flyover. Extension of Route 4 to Kennedy Town was completed in February 1997.

To relieve the existing traffic congestion and to cater for the anticipated growth in road traffic along this east-west corridor on the north shore, a new trunk road is being constructed to link up the Rumsey Street Flyover and the section of Island Eastern Corridor at North Point.  The new road will be dual 3-lanes, and largely constructed as underground tunnel.  Construction work will commence in end 2009, and is targeted to complete in 2017.

A pedestrian link with escalators and travelators between the central business district and the residential areas in Mid-Levels was completed and opened to the public in January 1994. The covered walkway system provides a direct access for pedestrians so as to minimize the use of private cars and public transport.

A two-way link between Smithfield and Pok Fu Lam Road was completed in January 1998. It improves traffic flow and copes with the increase in traffic from the Western Harbour Crossing.