Though Hsuehshan Tunnel was touted as a way to shorten travel time and increase tourism in Ilan County and on the east coast, the government now plans to make the tunnel itself a sightseeing destination.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications's (MOTC) effort is designed to help salvage the fading tourism industry in Pinglin (
Minister Tsai Duei (蔡堆) convened a meeting yesterday that was attended by officials from the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau, the National Expressway Engineering Bureau and the Tourism Bureau to plan potential routes for tourists.
The preliminary proposal advises tourists arriving in large tour buses to change to small-size tour buses once they reach Pinglin, so that they can enter the tunnel as part of their sightseeing tour. Currently, large-size tour buses and trucks are prohibited from entering the tunnel.
The proposal also said that the tourism bureau would compensate operators of the smaller buses about one-third of the fare, with the tourists paying the other two-thirds, as a way to promote visits.
Using the small buses, visitors could then begin a one-day tour by stopping at the tea museum in Pinglin. Later, they could go to the Pinglin Traffic Control Center to see a multimedia presentation about the tunnel's construction, which would last about 10 minutes. Tourists would also be allowed to observe how staff in the traffic center monitor the traffic flow on the Chiang Wei-shui Freeway. The tour would end with a trip inside the Hsuehshan Tunnel itself to take a 350m-long stroll in one of the pilot tunnels.
Bane Chiu (
Chiu said that some engineers from the Taiwan Area National Expressway Bureau would serve as tour guides inside the pilot tunnel at the initial stage. The tourism bureau and travel agencies would later take over the service.
Chiu noted that tourist visits would be arranged so as not to interfere with routine maintenance work that might require the pilot tunnels to be used.
Currently, the National Expressway Engineering Bureau has established a temporary exhibition room near the Hsuehshan Tunnel entrance in Toucheng (
The land, however, was leased from the Highway Police Bureau. The contract will expire in November. The bureau is now arranging for the Shihding Rest Area (
Eventually, the bureau hopes to display the tunnel-boring machines used to drill the tunnel.
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