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New Freeway No. 6 seeing green

The Taiwan Area National Expressway Engineering Bureau has adopted some eco-friendly methods during the construction of Freeway No. 6.

The 38km freeway will stretch from Wufeng (霧峰), Taichung County, to Puli (埔里) in Nantou County when complete.

There are four interchanges along the route: East Tsaotun (東草屯), Kuohsing (國姓), Ailan (愛蘭) and Puli (埔里).

The bureau's Chen I-piao (陳議標) said the environment surveillance crew discovered Taiwan Gudgeons (台灣銀鮈), or Squalidus iijimae, along the route before the construction began.

The construction crew has since paid close attention when working in these areas, he said.

To preserve indigenous species of fish, Chen said that the bureau sought assistance from National Chiayi University's aquatic bioscience department to help monitor the number of Taiwan Gudgeons and changes in their natural habitat.

The bureau also set up signs on-site to educate visitors about the importance of protecting the fish.

Meanwhile, the bureau has built several ecological pools near the Ailan and Tsaotun Interchanges.

These ecological pools are designed to act as homes for amphibians, birds and insects.

Aside from the ecological pools, the bureau has also constructed many artificial animal passageways alongside the freeway.

While working on the construction, the crew put stickers of raptors on the freeway's soundproof walls to scare off birds so that they will not hit the walls or fly into traffic.

Chen said the bureau also made great efforts to lower the construction's impact on the environment.

To reduce the noise generated by the construction work, the bureau used cased secant piles when working on the base structures of the bridge. It also built a case outside the tunnel's ventilators to decrease the noise.

The bureau also set a speed limit while carrying building materials to reduce vibration.

The bureau's deputy director general Tseng Dar-jen (曾大仁) said that Freeway No.6 was what is often called a "Third Generation Freeway," meaning it was designed in ways that minimize damage to the environment.

Currently, 90 percent of the freeway is complete. The section between Ailan and Puli has been open for traffic since before the Lunar New Year holidays last month.

The construction is estimated to cost NT$33.14 billion (US$1 billion) and the entire route is scheduled to become operational by the end of this year.
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