During the 228 Peace Memorial Day long weekend, I thought that the congestion on the nation’s freeways would ease on the second day, but I was wrong.
Maybe because I hit the road at the wrong time, I found myself trapped in a traffic jam not long after I entered the southbound lane of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) in Taoyuan’s Neili (內壢).
At the time, I thought that taking the Sibin Expressway (Highway No. 61) might be a faster option.
I left the freeway at the next exit and entered the expressway in Guanyin District (觀音). As expected, as soon as I got on the elevated section between Guanyin and Sinwu District (新屋), my journey became much smoother.
However, it only took me a few minutes to find out how bumpy the road was — the road had been patched and the surface was very uneven.
I also had to share the road with dump trucks and big motorcycles, some sections were on the same level and parallel to other roads, there were speed cameras, and the speed limits varied between sections.
All in all, my experience was that you cannot drive very fast on the expressway, and you constantly have to worry about safety — there could be hidden dangers everywhere, including dogs, scooters and cars getting on by mistake in sections where it runs along other roads.
Although driving on the expressway all the way to Hsinchu was much quicker than it would have been on the freeway, I was constantly on tenterhooks.
There have been many setbacks to the construction of the expressway. It was designed in 1991, and construction was planned to be carried out in multiple sections at the same time, but today, almost 30 years later, it still is not completed.
Its original ground-level design was later changed to an elevated one in some sections due to safety concerns and to connect it to other expressways.
It is a favorite route for dump trucks, so there are many potholes, and road maintenance can never catch up with the damage.
Due to the poor quality of its surface, a serious crash involving several vehicles occurred on the expressway last month.
However, its importance as an alternative to the freeways along the west coast during holidays and long weekends is increasing.
More effective management measures must be implemented to improve traffic control, such as limiting the time and sections that can be used by dump trucks, and designating lanes for different classes of vehicles and speeds. For example, the inner lane could be limited to cars and big motorcycles, with a speed limit of 90kph to 100kph, and the outer lane could be limited to dump trucks and slower vehicles, with a speed limit of 70kph.
As for the ground-level sections, the speed limit should in general be 70kph. Punishment for traffic rule contraventions should be more proactive and comprehensive.
Barriers for animals or other intruders should be installed to reduce the risk of them suddenly appearing in front of drivers, and more haze detectors should be installed to ensure driving safety.
Sibin Expressway is sometimes called the “freeway for the poor,” but it is like any other toll-free highway, because the poor cannot afford a vehicle.
Based on the user-pays principle, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications should consider making the expressway a toll road to ensure that there are enough funds for its maintenance, with flexible toll fees adjusted depending on the time of day.
Otherwise, the expressway might soon become a dangerous road prone to severe accidents due to mismanagement.
The vision for the expressway was that it should be a “blue highway” along the west coast, but due to inconsistencies in policy and design, drivers cannot enjoy the beautiful coastal scenery.
Chen Tsu-hui is an assistant professor.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
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