Date, time & venue 
2010-08-21;9:30am to 12:00noon;CRE office and construction site of Tolo Highway widening project

Highlight

The Contract comprises widening of a 2.4km long section of Tolo Highway from Island House Interchange to Ma Wo. The widening works are proposed to alleviate the traffic congestion problem on the Tolo Highway. The scope of the contract mainly includes:

·         widening of Tolo Highway from existing dual 3-lane to dual 4-lane between Island House Interchange and Ma Wo;

·         widening of the interchange section at Island House Interchange from existing dual 2-lane to dual 3-lane, including realigning the various slip roads;

·         demolition and reconstruction of highways structures comprising Banyan Bridge, Banyan West Bridge; 

·         construction of Bridges No. 10A, 11A and New Lam Kam Railway overbridge; 

·         modification and stitching of existing Bridge No. 10, 11 and Lam Kam Railway overbridge;

·         replacement of the existing road restraint system with new types of parapets and roadside barriers;

·         slopeworks and construction of retaining walls;

·         installation of noise barriers; and

·         ancillary works including civil, structural, geotechnical, drainage, landscape and electrical and mechanical installations associ

Report

Photographs of Visit

Please read photo album 20100821 Tolo Highway Widening Stage 1 for all photographs or the attached files (part)

Reported by Alex Yeung

On 21 August 2010, a technical site visit to Widening of Tolo Highway from Island House Interchange to Ma Wo (Stage 1 - Contract No. HY/2008/09) was organised by the HKIE Civil Division. In total, 30 members have participated in the visit. We were sincerely welcomed by the representatives of Hyder-Arup-Black & Veatch Joint Venture. The representatives started the presentation and gave a brief introduction of the project.  The contract sum of the project is HK$1.85 billion and it comprises widening of a 2.4km long section of Tolo Highway from Island House Interchange to Ma Wo from existing dual 3-lane to dual 4-lane and widening of the interchange section at Island House Interchange from existing dual 2-lane to dual 3-lane, including realigning the various slip roads.  The widening works are proposed to alleviate the traffic congestion problem on the Toto Highway.

The scope of the contract mainly includes demolition and reconstruction of two bridges over the existing Tolo Highway, construction of three bridges including one spanned across the existing railway track, modification and stitching of three existing bridges, slope works and construction of retaining walls, installation of noise barriers and ancillary works associated with the road widening works.

This site visit was kindly hosted by Hyder-Arup-Black & Veatch Joint Venture. Resident Engineers gave an interesting presentation on the scope of works, construction methods being adopted and challenges being overcome. A site walk was then carried out to visualize the construction of the bored pile foundations of which will support the proposed widened bridges, the slope and retaining wall works and the protection works adjacent to the existing MTRCL railway.

One of the greatest challenges on this project was that the site access was very limited and the proposed works were close to the existing Tolo Highway and public. Therefore, construction access and safe working platforms for foundation works and slope works had to be formed along the existing slopes. Regular meetings with public and relevant stakeholders were organized to engage the public in the construction activities and status. In addition, the implementation of TTA on the heavily trafficked Tolo Highway also imposed another challenge.

This visit has helped to broaden the participants’ understanding of the widening of expressways in Hong Kong. We also recognise the importance and challenges in the planning stage due to the presence of different site constraints. On behalf of all the participants, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to the host and all other parties whom had contributed in this visit.

Attachment:

IMG_1872  --  Site visit on 21 Aug 2010