Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien’s (連勝文) proposal to put the city’s elevated Xinsheng Expressway underground has met with ridicule.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator and Taipei mayoral hopeful Pasuya Yao (姚文智) yesterday said that Lien’s idea shows he “has height, but no depth in his brain.”
Lien reportedly proposed the idea on Wednesday after meeting former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi during Lien’s four-day tour of Japan, according to the Chinese-language United Daily News.
Photo: CNA
The United Daily News reported that Koizumi brought up the topic with Lien because while in power, Koizumi had put forward a plan to tear down some elevated expressways over the Nihonbashi in Tokyo that were built for speedy completion and to bypass land expropriation before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
It has been reported that Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe also supported burying the 50-year-old elevated expressways because he believed it would be a way to stem endless budget spending for their maintenance.
However, experts have warned that underground expressways are hard to renovate after earthquakes, and that there are flooding and tunnel safety issues.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Lien was quoted as saying: “I think the idea can be borrowed for [Taipei’s] 30-year-old Xinsheng Expressway.”
He reportedly said that urban renewal tops Taipei residents’ list of priorities and those living in the city’s Zhongshan District (中山) — where the expressway is located — want the “dangerous bridge” brought down.
Lien’s remarks sparked fierce debate online, with many people saying that under the Xinsheng Expressway lies a water channel built in 1933, which used to be called Horikawa (堀川).
“What could be wrong with turning Taipei into a city floating on water like Venice or building Taipei an undersea tunnel?” netizens joked.
Others questioned whether Lien lives in the same city as they do.
Yao yesterday accused Lien of barely understanding Taipei, saying that along with the water channel, there is the small issue of the existing underground transport lines of the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (台灣高鐵 ) line 6m below ground, the Taiwan Railways line 10m underground and two Mass Rapid Transit lines.
“Are you proposing to dig down 20m to bury the expressway?” said Yao, who said his proposal of closing down Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), would render the Xinsheng Expressway unnecessary and make its demolition possible.
“Liu-Kong Canal [built in 1740] and its drains [of which Horikawa is one] could then resurface and canal culture could be developed,” the DPP candidate added.
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