Cross-Island Highways open?

I am planning a trip around the island this Chinese New Year and am wondering if anyone has been on either the Central (Taichung to Hualien) and/or the Southern (Tainan to Taidong) Cross Island Highways?

I know that they can close down at a moments notice due to poor weather or earthquakes.

Thanks in advance

The central has been closed for years and will likely never open. You need to go to Puli then on to Wushe, Qingjing Farm, and turn east around Tayuling on the 8 through Taroko down to Hualien. Thereā€™s a new highway (6) expressway to Puli from Wofong so the journey is a bit faster. After that you take the 21.

Havenā€™t heard anything about the south being closed.

[quote=ā€œMuzha Manā€]The central has been closed for years and will likely never open. You need to go to Puli then on to Wushe, Qingjing Farm, and turn east around Tayuling on the 8 through Taroko down to Hualian. Thereā€™s a new highway (6) expressway to Puli from Wofong so the journey is a bit faster. After that you take the 21.

Havenā€™t heard anything about the south being closed.[/quote]

Such a shame bout the Central Cross Island. And I think you are right, it will never re-open. I heard a few hundred workers died building it the first time around. Nobody can afford that kind of human expense anymore (not that we ever really could). But that was a spectacular drive. And Im glad I did it several times. Still branching off towards TaYueLing isnt bad and is a great drive in itself. Road gets past 10,000 feet one point, and my Telstar almost didnt make it over the hump with the low oxygen. The RPM dropped down to 1500 at one point and I thought I wasnt gonna make it, then we crested what was probably the highest point and then it was all downhill from there , and the engine recovered its composure. But I saw quite a few small cars with stick shifts that wizzed by me tho, putting me 1.8 Telstar automatic to shame.

I mean branching off towards HOHuanshan isnt bad, as you pass TAyueling.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Cr ā€¦ nd_Highway

Thanks for the helpful info guys

Looks like iā€™ll be doing a bit of a detour then

I never had the chance to do Lishan to Guguan

Too bad

Iā€™ve been to both but that was just after 921

NOt to worry. The Entire East-West Cross Island Highway as a WHOLE was spectacular. By just missing the stretch from LIshan to Guguan you only missed TECHI DAM (which was pretty sweet). But other then that, you havent really missed a whole hecka lot. So take heart. And you can still come up to Guguan via the other end . And thats a nice drive. So just missing that one stretch is ok :slight_smile:

A few years ago, a number of us Fcomers were writing to the premier asking that the hwy be turned into a hiking/biking route. There was talk of this for a while but it seems the terrain is still too unstable.

I enquired about the feasibility of this route as a mountain bike expedition at the Lishan tourist centre, and they were rather concerned about my mental health.

not sure if they really knew it was dangerous, or just felt that i was a typical weird big-nose. any road, they said that police would stop me if they found me.

so i guess Iā€™ll have to get down there and ride it at midnight using a box of fireflies to guide me.

you can google earth the route and see all the landslides going on there . its not passable IMHO

New verb (ā€œgoogle earthā€)? I like that. :smiley:

Do ya think there will be snow up at the top of the South Cross Island Highway right now?

I was up in He Huan Shan a few years ago on my motorcycle and came around a windy mountainside road and hit a sheet of black ice and wiped out. Myself and the person on the back of my bike were ok and so was my bike luckily.

Maximum elevation of the highway is about 2800m so itā€™s gonna be cold up there. Also, do you think that highway will be crowded tomorrow afternoon?

I canā€™t wait. This is the last main road I have yet to traverse (actually not entirely true. I went accross it by bus in the middle of the night many moons ago drinking copious amounts of alcohol along the way. But that doesnā€™t count) :laughing:

yes, there is currently snow there, and more is forecast for the next few days.

and the elevation going over the saddle at HeHuan Shan is closer to 3250m, not 2800m. itā€™s a long way on a bicycle from Puli: record is still just under two hours forty, though. iā€™m closer to fourā€¦

[quote=ā€œurodacusā€]yes, there is currently snow there, and more is forecast for the next few days.

and the elevation going over the saddle at HeHuan Shan is closer to 3250m, not 2800m. itā€™s a long way on a bicycle from Puli: record is still just under two hours forty, though. Iā€™m closer to fourā€¦[/quote]

Thanks for the info as I will eventually end up at HeHuan Shan but I wanted to know if there would be any snow up at the highest point on the South Cross Island Highway and what the genereal conditions might be at this time of year.

Foggy on the south-cross this time of year. You should plan to be off the road by 3pm or so. Be especially careful when you pass through the long tunnel at Yakou. Often ice on the other side. Likely no snow.

Just before Wulu there a cool area of fumeroles and bubbling hot springs and mineral stained canyo walls down at riverbank level.

At Baolai turn right at the 7-Eleven down a side road and follow up into hills. Some really lovely places for a hot spring, with wide open mountain views and the scent of plum blossoms from nearby fields floating in the air.

taipeitimes.com/News/front/a ā€¦ 2003400308

Snow at high altitudes coming !!!

sNOW SNOW SNOW

taipeitimes.com/News/front/a ā€¦ 2003400587

More than a decade ago, a friend drove me up the Southern Cross-Island Highway. When he asked if weā€™d see snow, I said ā€œNah, it never snows this far southā€¦ā€

Ten minutes later, we rounded a corner and saw our destination, the 3,668-meter-high peak of Guanshan covered with ice and snow.

Thanks to the crampons he brought, we got to the top.

Just got back. HOLY CRAP!!!

This highway is a MUST see

MuchaMan knows that road wellā€¦YaKou was exactly as you described it minus the ice on the other side of the tunnel. But it was hovering around zero.

The cherry blossoms are out now

Letā€™s seeā€¦In a nut shell:

Old enormous trees, hairpin turns, sea of clouds below, waterfalls, empty (even during Chinese New Year), hot springs, homeless dog that lives right beside the tunnel at YaKou :frowning: , canyons down the other side

I was blown away by it. Gorgeous.

HEY does that mean the number 8 is to reopen? WOW. they said it was closed forever !
So you can go from KuKuan to Lishan again??

Only open for buses right now. You can read about my recent attempt to drive across.

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