The newly built Gukeng Interchange on Freeway No. 3 in Yunlin County was opened to motorists yesterday, eight years since residents of Gukeng Township (古坑) requested its construction to reduce driving time and facilitate transport of local produce.
The Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau has estimated that the new interchange, which cost more than NT$1 billion (US$30.9 million), will save local residents 10 to 15 minutes in driving time to gain access to the freeway.
“The Gukeng Interchange will facilitate traffic between the Gukeng and Douliou (斗六) areas, help promote agricultural and tourism development in Yunlin and, above all, increase the efficiency of shipping agricultural products to other places,” bureau official Chao Ju-kai (趙汝凱) said.
However, not all residents are pleased with the new interchange, which was built with two separate ramps.
The straight-line distance between the north and south ramps is about 3km, so motorists who take the wrong ramp will have to drive through seven villages to reach the other ramp.
Those who lose their way will have to weave through the township’s countryside, threatening the safety of local residents, some Gukeng resident representatives have said.
The Gukeng Township Office urged the bureau and the Yunlin County Government to build two access roads to connect the two ramps and install more traffic signs to prevent motorists from getting lost.
Yunlin Public Works Department head Peng Tzu-cheng has said that this would cost another NT$700 million.
“The county government cannot afford such a project,” he said, adding that it would seek central government funding by submitting the project to the bureau as part of the nation’s region-based road system construction plan.
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