Central Cross Island Highway

Is it possible to travel from Hualien to Taichung via the Central Cross Island Highway? If so is there a regular and safe bus service on this route.

If anybody has any information or has recently travelled on this road I would be interested to hear from you.

Well, what I have heard is that sections of the road is still closed after the earthquake in 1999. I don’t know when it’s supposed to open again. If yuo want to go that way, some mountainclimbing gear might be a good idea .

If anybody knows when the damn road is supposed to open again, please let me know.

quote:
Originally posted by Holger Nygaard: If anybody knows when the damn road is supposed to open again, please let me know.

I doubt that will happen soon. Just think of how easily that road gets closed. They haven’t finished it even until now and the approaching rainy season will fulfill its duty like every year. The repairs for the rain damage will start and soon be halted due to taiphoon season, which causes more damage. If the winter isn’t too hard, the damages of this year might be repaired by the end of Winter, but then the next rainy season is coming…

Olaf

I drove across there in April last year - don’t expect to average more than 30kmh unless you are a little crazy. So that makes it about 7 hours from coast to coast. The scenery is magnificent and worth the trip. We were held up for about an hour while a rockslide was cleared

Is it open???

If it is, I’d like to hear about it, as I just love to take the old Nissan out on that road…

H, there’s not really much point asking this question, as the road can be closed for a whole day by just a very minor rockslide, so even if the roads authority (is there even such a thing here?) says its open, the information could very easily be wrong by the time you get there.

Although having said that, its been pretty dry recently, so its maybe OK at the moment.

The best way to approach it, in my view, is to go with an open-ended plan. Its effing beautiful down that road, as well as spectacular. So what if you don’t make it all the way across – you’ll still almost certainly have a trip to remember!

Have fun.

You might try calling the Fengyuan Motor Transportation Company. It offered (offers?) bus service along the cross-island highway.
Tel: (04) 523-4175

There are a few more possibly relevant numbers on the Providence University website.

Walking that road is something I’d love to do (but probably never will).

… but I heard there is an offroad hiking trail that runs relatively parallel to the highway… would make hiking a little more bearable. Anyone know if this is true?

Yeah, I’ve been on a few sections of that trail. It was more than 10 years ago now and parts of it were in pretty poor nick even then.
You would still have had to spend a large part of the walk on the main road, a prospect that would strike me as being very dangerous, if not downright foolhardy (if you’ve ever seen the way those fruit farmers get their wares to market – what’s that song by the New Riders of the Purple Sage about a guy called Henry?)

As hy.8 is closed from Guguan to Deji Shuiku. The Taizhong County
government has funded www.fybus.com.tw to provide free bus service
via the detour route, Taizhong – Dongshi – Puli – Wushe –
Hehuanshan – Lishan, with budget until next summer at least. If one
could drive the normal way then there wouldn’t be any free bus
service.

quote:
Originally posted by Dan Jacobson: the detour route, Taizhong -- Dongshi -- Puli -- Wushe -- Hehuanshan -- Lishan

And that’s also a beautiful drive, after Dongshi, at least – although the binlang babes on the way to Puli make it one of the most dangerous roads on the island!

They got 'em nearly nekkid down there (and sometimes TOTALLY nekkid “down there” if you catch my drift.

Any news on when the 1999 earthquake damage will be fixed?

Called the highway department yesterday. They said the road from Guguan Hotsprings to Deji Reservoir is still closed and will be until the summer of 2004.

Thanks Mucha Man. I was up there a couple of months ago and saw a lot of earthmoving and road construction machines, so lets hope that summer 2004 really is it. It will cut at least 2 hours off the cross-island riding time and also possibly be a nicer route.
Can anybody who travelled it before the earthquake confirm that?

A 2 to 3 hour savings time wise;

Nice scenery as well, without all the hectic and unsightly development taking place on the Puli- He-Huan Shan route…Yuck!

Let’s hope they can keep that timetable… :slight_smile:

What kind of construction? Improvements to the road or hotels and such?

I think that Michael was being sarcastic.

The locals tend to pour concrete over all that nature.

Not sure if it’s still around, but there used to be bus service between Taichung and Hualien, but it takes 10 hours.

The current freewy #6 to Puli can be extended to Hualien (will only be 4 lane highway rather than freeway) but it’s still under feasibility study

taneeb.gov.tw/03/i0305.htm