For discussion PWSC(96-97)94
on 22 January 1997

ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE
OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 706 - HIGHWAYS
Transport - Traffic control
15TC - Improvement to directional signs on expressways

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee the upgrading of 15TC, entitled "Improvement to directional signs on expressways", to Category A at an estimated cost of $48.7 million in money-of-the-day prices.

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PROBLEM
PROPOSAL
PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE
JUSTIFICATION
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
LAND ACQUISITION
BACKGROUND INFORMATION

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PROBLEM

There are no directional signs on expressways¹ in the New Territories to guide motorists to the new airport at Chek Lap Kok. Besides, some expressway signs mounted on roadside are easily obscured by high vehicles and may not be visible to some motorists.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Highways (DHy), with the support of the Secretary for Transport, proposes to upgrade 15TC to Category A at an estimated cost of $48.7 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices for improvement to directional signs on expressways in the New Territories.

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. The proposed scope of this project comprises -

1. the erection of 15 overhead sign gantries on Tolo Highway, Fanling Highway and Tuen Mun Road to replace existing directional signs mounted at the roadside level;
2. the erection of eight larger overhead sign gantries to replace existing ones on Tolo Highway, Sha Tin Road, Tuen Mun Road and Tsuen Wan Road;
3. the replacement of ten existing directional signs along the roadside with larger signs on Tolo Highway, Fanling Highway, Sha Tin Road, Tuen Mun Road and Tsuen Wan Road; and
4. the replacement of the sign plates for about 176 directional signs on expressways to provide information on the new airport and introduce minor amendments on other signs for better indications of directions.

JUSTIFICATION

4. We plan to open Chek Lap Kok Airport and close Kai Tak Airport in mid 1998. We need to provide information on the directional signs on expressways to guide motorists to the new airport facilities.

5. The volume of traffic on the expressways in the New Territories has increased substantially in the past few years, with very heavy usage by high container trucks. These vehicles normally travel along the inner lanes. As the existing directional signs mounted on the roadside are generally no taller than these vehicles, the signs are often not visible to drivers travelling in the centre and outer lanes. We need to replace the signs at these locations with overhead gantry signs for better visibility.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

6. We estimate the capital cost of the proposed works to be $48.7 million in MOD prices (see paragraph 7 below), made up as follows -

7. Subject to approval, we will phase the expenditure as follows -

8. We have derived the MOD estimate on the basis of the Government’s forecasts of trend labour and construction prices for the period 1997 to 2000. We will tender the works under a fixed-price lump sum contract because we can clearly define the scope of works in the contract. The contract will make no provision for adjustment to the tender price due to inflation because the contract period will not exceed 21 months.

9. We estimate the additional annually recurrent expenditure arising from the proposed works to be $172,000.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

10. Due to the minor nature of the works, the Director of Home Affairs advised that there is no need to consult the relevant District Boards. We nevertheless issued an information paper about the scheme to the Traffic and Transport Committees of the affected District Boards² in November 1996.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

11. The Director of Environmental Protection conducted an Environmental Review for the proposed works and concluded that the works would have no long term impact on the environment. For short term construction impacts, we will control dust, noise and site run-off nuisances through the implementation of mitigation measures in the works contract.

LAND ACQUISITION

12. The proposed works do not require land acquisition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

13. We upgraded this project to Category B in January 1996.

14. We have substantially completed the detailed design and working drawings for the proposed works using in-house staff. The works are scheduled to start in May 1997 for completion in August 1998, with erection of signs related to the new airport to be completed by January 1998.

15. To minimize traffic disruption when the improvement works are carried out, we will implement the necessary temporary lane closures during night time, with a few closures during off-peak hours in daytime subject to agreement by the Commissioner of Police and Commissioner for Transport.

(DD1074)

1 -- Expressway is an area where the prohibitions and restrictions imposed by Part XIV of the Road Traffic Ordinance and the Road Traffice (Expressway) Regulations apply. There are currently 11 expressways in the territory namely Tusen Wan Road, Tuen Mun Road, Yune Long Highway, San Tin Highway, Fanling Highway, Tolo Highway, Sha Tin Road, Tate's Cairn Highway and Ma On Shan Road in the New Territories, Kwun Tong Bypass in Kowloon and Island Eastern Corridor on Hong Kong Island.
2 --- The District Boards (DBs) involved are the Tuen Mun, Tsuen Wan, Kwai Tsing, Yuen Long North, Tai Po and Sha Tin DBs.

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