A section of the Suhua Highway (part of Highway No. 9) that was closed after a landslide last week reopened to traffic yesterday afternoon following repairs.
The landslide on Wednesday night crushed a 25m section of a rock shed near Dacingshuei (大清水) in Hualien County’s Sioulin Township (秀林), cutting off traffic in both directions.
The damaged portion of the highway connecting Yilan and Hualien counties was reopened on schedule at 5pm yesterday after around-the-clock repairs by the Directorate-General of Highways.
Photo courtesy of the Directorate General of Highways
Agency Director General Chen Wen-juei (陳文瑞) said that workers finished clearing 1,200m3 of debris on Saturday night and spent the early hours of yesterday reinforcing the damaged mountain slope with netting and concrete.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) inspected the site yesterday and expressed gratitude to the workers for their efforts.
The agency’s Fourth Maintenance Office said the section would be closed again from 7pm to early today, as the slope cannot be effectively monitored during the night.
From today through Wednesday, the section would be open daily from 5am to 8am, 11am to 1pm and 5pm to 7pm, it said, adding that overnight work at the site would continue.
There would be no traffic controls until the end of this month, as heavy traffic is expected during the Lunar New Year holiday, it added.
The agency last week estimated that about 3,000 vehicles pass the section in each direction on an average weekday, rising to 6,000 to 7,000 vehicles on weekends and more on national holidays.
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