A pedestrian overpass on the intersection of Xinyi and Keelung roads close to Taipei 101 could be demolished next year due to its low usage, the Taipei Department of Public Works said.
Taipei Department of Public Works Maintenance Section head Chen Bing-lin (陳炳麟) said that in October last year zebra crossings were added to the intersection under the L-shaped overpass and now about 90 percent of pedestrians have stopped using the overpass and it is nearly redundant.
Chen said the department would submit a budget request for the demolition of the overpass to the Taipei City Council in September.
He said that the department in January sealed off the overpass for 21 days to test the response and that it received a dozen e-mails of complaint from city residents, most of whom were photography enthusiasts who wanted to take time-lapse photographs of the traffic flowing past Taipei 101.
He said that the demolition would improve the urban landscape.
The city has since 2012 embarked on a project to tear down overpasses and seal off underground passages that are rarely used, with eight overpasses and nine underground passages to be decommissioned this year at a cost of NT$35 million (US$1.07 milliom), Chen said.
The city has 79 overpasses, with the 46-year-old one next to Xing Ya Elementary School in Xinyi District (信義) being the oldest, Chen said, adding that it is to be preserved due to its historical status.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS