The National Freeway Bureau said yesterday it was postponing the reopening of the Cidu (七堵) section of the Formosa Freeway (National Freeway No. 3) as the taskforce investigating the cause of last month's killer landslide still had doubts about the safety of certain slopes.
A massive landslide on April 25 killed four motorists and covered all six lanes of the freeway with thousands of tonnes of rock and mud, causing the freeway bureau to close the Cidu section.
Earlier this month, the bureau said it aimed to have one northbound and one southbound lane accessible by today, adding that motorists would be asked to observe a speed limit of 40kph when driving through the section.
Hsu Jheng-jhang (許鉦漳), director of the bureau's northern region engineering office, said the bureau finished on-site inspections of the southbound lanes last week. It was scheduled to inspect the northbound lanes yesterday.
“We did not think there would be any safety issue if we opened one southbound and one northbound lane first,” Hsu said, adding that the ditches built along the slopes had helped to collect rainfall from the slopes on Sunday.
“Since the taskforce said that we need to be more cautious about the safety of the slopes and asked both the National Freeway Bureau and Expressway Engineering Bureau to provide more statistics, we decided to postpone [the reopening],” Hsu said.
The bureau said in a written statement that it had decided to postpone the reopening of the Cidu section from today to next Tuesday.
“The bureau will open the section as soon as possible after it has addressed all safety concerns,” it said.
The bureau said it had completely removed debris from both southbound and northbound lanes. It also conducted a loading test on the Cidu section on Sunday, with the results falling within the safety range stated in the regulations.
In related news, the legislature’s Economics Committee yesterday approved legislation that would require the government to make public a list of geologically sensitive areas nationwide in a bid to prevent catastrophic landslides.
The draft geology act still has to clear the legislature before it becomes law. Lawmakers across party lines have agreed to push for its enactment as soon as possible.
The legislature passed a similar measure in 2004, but 42 legislators across party lines had it reconsidered over concerns it would conflict with other laws and it was never revisited.
The initiative gained new urgency after the freeway landslide.
The new bill obliges the Ministry of Economic Affairs to designate regions with special geological characteristics or that are vulnerable to geological disasters as “geologically sensitive areas.”
It also stipulates that a commission should be established to review proposals to designate, change or abolish the listing of areas as “geologically sensitive,” and that no fewer than half the members of the commission be experts and academics.
Unlike the version of the act that nearly became law in 2004, the new measure does not explicitly bar developers from building on “geologically sensitive” land.
However, they will be restricted from launching projects on sites even partially located on such land without conducting a geological survey and safety evaluation. Only when an evaluation has been completed can developers apply for a permission to develop the land.
Landowners, users or managers who reject, evade or undermine the surveys are subject to a fine ranging between NT$100,000 and NT$500,000, the act says.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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