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When will Hong Kong be dead?

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  1. #1

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    When will Hong Kong be dead?

    Yesterday i had dinner in Hutchison House. After dinner our dinner party had the idea to walk towards the harbour front in order to catch a ferry. Rather than taking the usual route through the office buildings and shopping malls, we crossed over Connaught Road towards City Hall.

    To my surprise, there was a small opening to the newly opened road from Central to Wan Chai. So we took that path and walked along that new road towards IFC from where we turned towards the Central Ferry Pier.

    THAT'S when it struck me! Once again our city planners have already successfully f***k up the design of the new Central harbour front. Not only do we have to cross Connaught Road (where please??? one crossing is at Hutchison House, one is the underpass to the old ferry pier, where else???), we now also have to cross a new 6-lane highway which is separating the heartland of Central from this new harbour front area.

    No way, it can't be that bad, i told myself and had a casual glance at the design proposal that is displayed along the construction noise walls when walking towards the new Central Ferry Pier.

    And guess what! There are only three pedestrian crossings across this new 6 lane highway. Three for an area between Central/IFC to Wan Chai Convention Center! And one of it is the area of the new Government building, where they will for sure find a reason to block it to ensure there are no protests there.

    What's wrong with these guys? Not that i expected a lot, but do they ever think about the people who actually live in this city???

    Last edited by cookie09; 25-02-2010 at 01:15 PM.

  2. #2

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    [pedant]Hutchison, not Hutchinson[/pedant]

    Has it really taken you this long to realise that this city is run for the benefit of a few rich people at the head of the property cartel?

    JaredHK likes this.

  3. #3

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    [QUOTE=PDLM;555397Has it really taken you this long to realise that this city is run for the benefit of a few rich people at the head of the property cartel?[/QUOTE]

    as i said, my expectations were very low already, but this is just completely nuts.


  4. #4

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    by the way, it also struck me that the road was the things that got finished first...

    ...and nice that the road is so much in the open air. that will allow us to get high on the car noise and fumes when we have our lunch sandwich at the shore...


  5. #5

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    I see 4 crossings in this picture, including the existing one to the Star Ferry.
    http://www.devb-plb.gov.hk/reclamati...r3_map_pop.htm

    The big debate a few years back was whether the road be on the surface or buried in a tunnel. Given the cost of a tunnel we ended up with it on the surface. Given that the whole point of the road is as a bypass to move traffic at speed it can't really be covered in pedestrian crossings!

    It seems to me that finishing the road first is quite logical, not least (I guess, I'm not a civil engineer) because it doesn't require reclaimed land to have settled in the way that building other structures does.

    Last edited by PDLM; 25-02-2010 at 01:21 PM.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by PDLM:
    I see 4 crossings in this picture, including the existing one to the Star Ferry.
    http://www.devb-plb.gov.hk/reclamati...r3_map_pop.htm

    The big debate a few years back was whether the road be on the surface or buried in a tunnel. Given the cost of a tunnel we ended up with it on the surface. Given that the whole point of the road is as a bypass to move traffic at speed it can't really be covered in pedestrian crossings!

    It seems to me that finishing the road first is quite logical, not least (I guess, I'm not a civil engineer) because it doesn't require reclaimed land to have settled in the way that building other structures does.
    i didnt count the one that exists already for the star ferry, because it doesn't allow you to really access the area. rather you have to walk all the way to the star ferry first.

    i agree that pedestrian crossings cannot be at ground level, but a tunnel would nevertheless have been the right solution, regardless of the cost.

    even shanghai gets this point and puts the whole bund underneath...

  7. #7

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    yeah but if you spend all the money on an underground then you have no more money to play and build some really good stuffs like the Macau/ZH/HK bridge or the new train lane to GZ.

    See they planned it very well.


  8. #8

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    Not sure when HK will be dead but Shanghai is showing signs of pushing its development further.

    I.H.T. Special Report - Shanghai - Shanghai Opens Doors to Financial World - NYTimes.com


  9. #9

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    Let's hope someone other than the LCSD designs the waterfront bit. I don't think I can take any more terracotta tiles. There's probably a team of fifty bureaucrats on overtime planning a list of things that we won't be allowed to do there.

    What are the glass domes at the bottom of the picture? A museum of harbour heritage?


  10. #10

    Why, other than the usual 'artist creativity' (read: deception) reasons, does the picture show trees/large shrubs on the walkway through to the ferry terminals? Dare I ask - are there, or is it intended that there one day be - trees on this walkway???


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