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6.5.1 2 The traffic implications of opening the WHC prior to the West Kowloon Expresswayare likely to be less problematic than could be expected, as long as the extensionof Route 3 to Yuen Long, and the extension of Route 7 to Aberdeen, are a!sopostponed to the late 1990s. Without these extensions, the diversionary effect of theWestern Harbour Crossing would be largely limited to cross-harbour movementsand traffic from the WHC would tend to disperse into Kowloon. In this situation,very few, and scattered, Sinks in West and Northwest Kowioon are projected to havecapacity problems in 1996, and these are expected to operate better than in 1986.6.5.13 With the possible new replacement airport relocated to North Lantau and portdevelopment on Lantau Island, the airport and port traffic coming into the urban areawould require an increase in capacity for the WKE from a dual 3-lane to a dual4-!ane facility by 2001.6.5f14 Conclusions—The West Kowloon Expressway will clearly be necessary by 2001 to/ provide capacity for the growth in traffic in Kowloon and to allow the WesternHarbour Crossing to attain its ful! potential to relieve the other harbour crossings.From the latter perspective, the West Kowloon Expressway is desirable as soon aspossible. Detailed planning for the West Kowloon Reclamation should consider thepossibility of accelerating the project or structuring the phases to permit completionof the WKE by mid to late 1990s. An alternative could be to construct theExpressway as an elevated facility, but this would be considerably more expensiveand may interfere with marine access to the existing waterfront facilities and causeproblems for subsequent reclamation work.6.5.15 It appears that traffic conditions in West and Northwest Kowloon would be tolerablein the mid 1990s without the WKE even if the Western Harbour Crossing were open,provided:(1) Additional capacity is provided to relieve the bottleneck at the Lai Chi KokBridge (refer to the following section on South Kwai Chung Road Phases II&HI).(2) The West Kowloon Expressway opens prior to, or simultaneously with, thenorthern extension of Route 3 and the southern extension of Route 7 on HongKong Island.Route 3 (South Kwai Chung Road Improvements, Phases [I and III)6.5.16 The extensive project to improve South Kwai Chung Road has three phases. Phase I,a committed project will widen South Kwai Chung Road from Ching Cheung Roadto Tsuen Wan Road and provide a direct connection between Ching Cheung Roadand Container Port Road. Phases II and 111 are designed to provide connectionsbetween the West Kowloon Expressway, the Tsing Yi section of Route 3 and SouthKwai Chung Road.6.5.17 In order to bypass the expected traffic congestion at the Lai Chi Kok Bridgebottleneck, it is proposed to extend this project south to a temporary connectionwith the northern end of the West Kowloon Corridor. This will serve until the WestKowloon Expressway can be completed.6.5.18 Such a bypass would certainly serve its purpose effectively. Projected daily volumesare 58000 and 90000 pcus at V/C ratios of 0.5 and 0.7 in 1996 and 2001respectively. With the bypass, the corridor would function satisfactorily, with theexception of the northernmost section of the West Kowloon Corridor which wouldbe operating slightly above practical capacity. Opportunities exist to improve thissituation by making improvements identified in the Northwest Kowloon TrafficStudy recently completed for Transport Department.6.5.19 The Single Year Rate of Return is HIGH, only slightly less than that of the WestKowloon Expressway indicating that it is also a very worthwhile project.106