Traffic on Highway No. 17 in Pingtung County will soon flow uninterrupted because a new bridge will soon be completed, the -Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) said.
The DGH said the Shuangyuan Bridge (雙園橋) connecting Linyuan (林園), Greater Kaohsiung, to Sinyuan (新園), Pingtung County, was an important route between the two counties.
The old Shuangyuan bridge was damaged by Typhoon -Morakot in August 2009, with about 400m completely destroyed by the flood.
“We managed to resume traffic on the old bridge by building a temporary steel bridge,” said Yu Cheng-yu (余成鈺), a section chief at the DGH’s southern engineering office.
“Then we built another new bridge nearby, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year,” Yu said.
The DGH put the cost of construction for the new bridge at NT$3.8 billion (US$125.8 million), making it the most expensive bridge to be rebuilt.
Costs were high because the entire construction involved about 3km, including the main bridge and passages leading to the bridge, it said.
To make sure the new bridge could withstand future floods, it was built with only 19 piers, down from 67.
The width of the bridge was also widened from 19m to 26m, making it possible to accommodate two fast lanes, one slow lane and a bike lane.
The DGH said northbound lanes on the bridge opened for traffic in September, adding that two-way traffic would be opened by the end of this month.
Meanwhile, the Donggang Bridge (東港橋) in Pingtung County is scheduled to be completed by August next year. Northbound lanes could be opened on Aug. 26.
The DGH said the new Donggang Bridge is also designed to withstand floods, adding that it was built with only five piers. It was also widened to 28m and was lengthened to 382m.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard