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Freeway bureau announces Lunar New Year road rules

Freeway toll booths will be closed at least six hours every day during the six-day Lunar New Year holiday, the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau said yesterday.

Lunar New Year's eve will fall on Feb. 6 and the holiday will officially end on Feb. 11.

The measure was part of the bureau's strategy to ease the expected freeway traffic congestion during the holiday.

Kang Jhy-fu (康志福), acting director of the bureau's traffic management department, said toll booths on both northbound and southbound lanes will be closed from 12am to 12pm on Lunar New Year's Eve, when a majority of homebound travelers are most likely to travel on roads.

On Feb. 7 and Feb. 8, however, all freeway toll booths will be closed from 12am to 6am.

As some travelers could start heading back north on Feb. 9 or Feb. 10, Kang said the bureau would extend the closing hours during those two days.

Toll booths on the Sun Yat-Sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) and the Formosa Freeway (Freeway No. 3) -- northbound and southbound -- will be closed from 12am to 3pm.

On the Chiang Wei-Shui Freeway (Freeway No. 5), the closing hours will be from 12am to 6am and from 1pm to 5pm.

On the last day of the holiday, the closing hours will be from 12am to 6am, he said.

Maximum daily traffic volume last year topped 2.94 million vehicle runs. The bureau predicted the volume would be about the same this year, he said.

Meanwhile, Kang said that the bureau would take other measures such as implementing High Vehicle Occupancy Controls and closing the entrances to some feeder roads.

The occupancy measures require that motorists carry at least two passengers in a car before they can be allowed to enter freeways.

On Lunar New Year's Eve, the rule will apply to southbound lanes on Freeway No. 1 between Neihu (內湖) and Changhua (彰化), Freeway No. 3 between Muzha (木柵) and Hsiangshan (香山) and Freeway No. 5 between Nangang (南港) and Pinglin (坪林).

On Feb. 9 and Feb. 10, motorists driving north from Kaohsiung to Neili (內壢), from Jiouju (九如) to Dashi (大溪) as well as from Suao (蘇澳) to Toucheng (頭城) will also have to abide by the rules on vehicle occupancy.
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