The final two sections of the 38.8km project to improve the Suhua Highway are to open at 4pm on Jan. 6, the Directorate-General of Highways said on Friday.
The project covers three sections along Taiwan’s rugged east coast — from Suao (蘇澳) to Dongao (東澳) townships in Yilan County; from Nanao Township (南澳) in Yilan to Heping Township (和平) in Hualien County; and from Hejhong (和中) to Dacingshuei (大清水) in Hualien.
The first stretch opened on Feb. 5 last year, while the other two sections would start operation in time to ease holiday traffic around the Lunar New Year period from Jan. 23 to Jan. 29, according to the agency.
Photo provided by Yilan County Government
The opening of the new sections would cut travel time from two-and-a-half hours to 80 minutes, the agency said.
In the first three months of operation for the two new sections, only cars and buses would be allowed, it said, adding that trucks would be permitted following an evaluation.
As with the old Suhua Highway, the new sections and tunnels would have a single lane in each direction, with a speed limit between 40 and 60kph.
Major intercity bus operators have announced that there will be a bus service between Greater Taipei and Hualien once the new sections are opened with tickets priced at NT$300 to NT$350.
The highway, which connects Yilan and Hualien counties, includes many winding sections along cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean that are accident-prone and vulnerable to landslides, resulting in frequent shutdowns.
The three sections of the project bypass the most precarious parts of the old highway, mostly through the use of tunnels that would account for more than 60 percent of the new road. The longest is a 7.9km tunnel in the middle section near the Guanyin area.
The final two segments comprise 29.1km of road, 20.7km of which run through five tunnels.
The need for an upgrade gained urgency in 2010, when Typhoon Megi triggered landslides on the road, killing 26 people.
The old Suhua Highway, with its views of Taiwan’s eastern coastline, would remain open to motorists with speed limits of 40 to 50kph.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
RSS