Taiwan Quick Take: Hsuehshan tunnel open soon

The Hsuehshan Tunnel (雪山隧道), the centerpiece of the 55km Peiyi Freeway linking Taipei to Yilan County, will be opened to traffic on June 16, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said earlier this week. According to officials at the ministry's National Freeway Engineering Bureau, a double check will be conducted on June 1 on the tunnel's traffic controls and emergency response systems, with the education and training for all related personnel scheduled to be completed by June 8. The 12.9km tunnel -- the longest highway tunnel in East Asia and the fifth-longest in the world -- took 14 years to complete at a cost of more than NT$100 billion (US$3.11 billion).