Tate's Cairn Tunnel

Tate's Cairn Tunnel
Tate's Cairn Tunnel
	Tate's Cairn Tunnel
Chinese	大老山隧道
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Dàlǎoshān Suìdào
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	daai6 lou5 saan1 seoi6 dou6

Tate's Cairn Tunnel
Overview
Location	Hong Kong
Coordinates	Coordinates: 22°21′50″N 114°12′43″E / 22.3640°N 114.2119°E
Route	Route 2
Start	Diamond Hill, New Kowloon
End	Siu Lek Yuen, Sha Tin, New Territories
Operation
Work begun	July 1988; 33 years ago
Opened	26 June 1991; 30 years ago
Owner	Hong Kong Government
Traffic	Vehicular
Toll	Yes
Technical
Length	3,913 metres (12,838 ft) - Northbound ; 3,945 metres (12,943 ft) - Southbound
No. of lanes	4 (2 per direction)
Operating speed	70 km/h (45 mph)

Tate's Cairn Tunnel is a four-lane road tunnel in Hong Kong. Constructed as part of Route 2, it links Diamond Hill, New Kowloon with Siu Lek Yuen, Sha Tin, New Territories East. It opened on 26 June 1991.

Its toll plaza is situated on the Sha Tin side, leading to Tate's Cairn Highway, Sha Lek Highway and various local roads. The tunnel joins the Kwun Tong Bypass and is connected with Lung Cheung Road and Hammer Hill Road and several local roads on the Kowloon side.

Tate's Cairn Tunnel is the third longest road tunnel in the New Territories and in Hong Kong, and the second longest over land, with the northbound tube having a length of 3,913 metres (2.43 mi) and southbound tube having a length of 3,945 metres (2.45 mi), after Tuen Mun–Chek Lap Kok Tunnel (at 3.1 miles (4.99 km)) and Lung Shan Tunnel (3 miles (4.83 km)) — It was the longest when it opened.

History[]

Construction of the Tate's Cairn Tunnel, begun in July 1988, was carried out by a joint venture between Gammon Construction and Nishimatsu.^[1] Nishimatsu built the tunnel and the two ventilation buildings, while Gammon constructed the approach roads and buildings.^[2]

The tunnel opened to traffic at 8:00 pm on 26 June 1991.^[3] It was reported that traffic in the Lion Rock Tunnel dropped 20 per cent during the Tate’s Cairn Tunnel's first day of operation.^[4] The tunnel was formally inaugurated by Governor David Wilson on 1 July that year.^[5]

Franchise model[]

The Tate's Cairn Tunnel is a BOT (build, operate, transfer) infrastructure project funded 100% by the private sector. The BOT franchise was awarded to the Tate’s Cairn Tunnel Company Limited for a period of 30 years by the Hong Kong Government in 1988.^[6]

Under the terms of the BOT, the franchisee is responsible for the construction and operation of the Tunnel until the end of the franchise period. During the franchise period, the Company was allowed to earn a reasonable but not excessive return through the collection of tolls. The statutory requirements to the Company were defined by the Tate's Cairn Tunnel Ordinance.^[6] Upon the expiration of franchise at midnight of 11 July 2018, the tunnel is now transferred to the Government.

Tunnel tolls[]

Tolls are collected manually or electronically in both directions at the toll plaza on the Sha Tin side.

Category	Vehicle	Toll^{[Note 1]}^[7]
1	Motorcycle	$15
2	Private car	$20
2	Taxi	$20
3	Public light bus	$23
3	Private light bus	$24
4	Light goods vehicle (less than 5.5 tonnes)	$24
5	Medium goods vehicle (5.5 to 24 tonnes)	$28
6	Heavy goods vehicle (more than 24 tonnes)	$28
7	Single-decker bus	$32
8	Double-decker bus	$35
	Additional axle	$24

Notes[]

^ As of 22 January 2016

Tunnel facilities[]

dual-tube, 4-laned
9 manual toll booths and 5 autotoll booth
24 cross passages
160 fire alarms
156 emergency telephones
320 fire extinguishers
82 hose reels
78 hydrants
18,268 fluorescent tubes
3,277 tunnel wall panels
44 CCTVs inside tunnel tubes
10 CCTVs outside tunnel tubes
16 ventilation fans

References[]

^ "HK's longest tunnel opens months early". South China Morning Post. 1 July 1991. p. 48.
^ Mundy, J.K. (1 July 1991). "Long road to vital linkage". South China Morning Post. p. 49.
^ Lau, Jeremy (26 June 1991). "Tate's Cairn to help cut travel time". South China Morning Post. p. 3.
^ Lau, Jeremy (28 June 1991). "Tate's Cairn debut spurs calls for Lion Rock toll cut". South China Morning Post. p. 3.
^ Wong, Lorna (2 July 1991). "Tate's Cairn daily target on schedule". South China Morning Post. p. 6.
^ ^a ^b Annual Report 2011^{[permanent dead link]}. Tate’s Cairn Tunnel Company Limited
^ Toll Rates of Road Tunnels and Lantau Link Transport Department, Government of Hong Kong. Retrieved 25 January 2016.

External links[]

Tate's Cairn Tunnel Company
Transport Department, toll rates
Geographic data related to Tate's Cairn Tunnel at OpenStreetMap

Preceded by Kwun Tong Bypass	Hong Kong Route 2 Tate's Cairn Tunnel	Succeeded by Tate's Cairn Highway

[7] As of 22 January 2016

[months-1] "HK's longest tunnel opens months early". South China Morning Post. 1 July 1991. p. 48.

[longroad-2] Mundy, J.K. (1 July 1991). "Long road to vital linkage". South China Morning Post. p. 49.

[cut-3] Lau, Jeremy (26 June 1991). "Tate's Cairn to help cut travel time". South China Morning Post. p. 3.

[spurs-4] Lau, Jeremy (28 June 1991). "Tate's Cairn debut spurs calls for Lion Rock toll cut". South China Morning Post. p. 3.

[target-5] Wong, Lorna (2 July 1991). "Tate's Cairn daily target on schedule". South China Morning Post. p. 6.

[TCT-AR-6] Annual Report 2011^{[permanent dead link]}. Tate’s Cairn Tunnel Company Limited

[8] Toll Rates of Road Tunnels and Lantau Link Transport Department, Government of Hong Kong. Retrieved 25 January 2016.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[Note 1]

[7]

[α]

[α]

v t Major road tunnels in Hong Kong
On Hong Kong Island	Aberdeen Tunnel Central–Wan Chai Bypass Tunnel
Crossings of Victoria Harbour	Cross-Harbour Tunnel Eastern Harbour Crossing Western Harbour Crossing
In Kowloon and New Kowloon	Central Kowloon Route Kai Tak Tunnel
Between New Kowloon and the New Territories	Eagle's Nest Tunnel and Sha Tin Heights Tunnel^[α] Lion Rock Tunnel Tate's Cairn Tunnel Tseung Kwan O Tunnel^[α] Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin Tunnel
In the New Territories	Airport Tunnel Cheung Shan Tunnel Cheung Tsing Tunnel Discovery Bay Tunnel Lung Shan Tunnel Nam Wan Tunnel Scenic Hill Tunnel Shing Mun Tunnels Tai Lam Tunnel Tai Wai Tunnel Tuen Mun–Chek Lap Kok Link (Northern Connection)
α. ^ ^a ^b Entirely in the New Territories, but all access roads on one side pass through New Kowloon. Italics indicate that a tunnel is under construction.