Seems like construction will start soon despite some criticism:
Taipei City Government announced on Wednesday it will begin work to remove the Gongguan roundabout and an underpass for buses at the intersection of Roosevelt Road and Keelung Road on Sept. 13.
The city said at a press conference that it will first fill in the bus underpass before removing the roundabout, with the project expected to be completed by late November.
I’m curious on how the end result will look like…
Long long time ago, a certain mayor gathered a lot of praise and following by finishing a decades neglected traffic project, an eyesore of the city. His finally done skills were praised and he started his term with success…that unfortunately got to his head and was the last of the real work that had to be done in the capital to actually be done.
Now, I hope this is not a wash/rinse/repeat as it is not an urgent necessity nor a prominent eyesore. Sometimes uncomfortable yes, but if not executed right…and the possibilities for error are plenty. And this is being charitable.
I am struggling to think of any change made by the current city administration that has made me think: Wow that’s great, that’s clearly better in the way that the Beimen transformation noted above by @Icon made me think: Wow!
Every change I’ve seen in my corner of the capital looks like: boxing in pedestrians, narrowing crossing spaces, making MORE parking for scooters by carving out sidewalk space instead of taking it from the road (I’m looking at you, Roosevelt Road). The Gongguan underpass removal will LENGTHEN bus rides by removing their dedicated underground lanes. What the hell!
Guy
Hey! Do not slander the party of the great and honourable Chiang Kash My Cheque!
There is no money to be made off those poors and sustainability activists!
Listen to Miao Po-ya, a young and smart city councilor. I’d rather have her in charge rather than the current guy with a famous family name.
Speaking to reporters at Taipei City Council Wednesday afternoon, Councilor Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) of the Social Democratic Party said the decision was “unscientific” as the removal would force buses to share road space with cars and motorcycles.
The city also went against a cross-party consensus to pause the project until further agreements have been reached with locals, she said.
She cited an evaluation made in October 2024 of the project’s potential impact, which predicted traffic would worsen, while 163-180 seconds would be added to the travel time for more than 300 bus services using the underpass during rush hour.
Miao said she proposed a trial adjustment of road markings and signals at a meeting held by the city government in July, yet the government only said it would “discuss the suggestions.”
Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance also said on Wednesday that it made multiple suggestions as did other road safety advocacy groups to improve the roundabout’s markings, yet the city simply dismissed them as “useless” at the Wednesday press conference.
Currently, no markings tell drivers which lane to take upon approaching the roundabout, and only when they reach their exit do they realize they are in the wrong lane, leaving them no choice but to cut across lanes to exit, the group said.
While an intersection with traffic lights will provide space for pedestrians, the group argued that the roundabout could still be improved, and that the government should first experiment with cheaper solutions like road markings instead of moving straight to removal.
Source: the Focus Taiwan article linked above
Guy
An update that can be summarized as: “We said we were going to do it, so we’re going to do it!”
This means all the north / south buses on Roosevelt Road will—following this “improvement”—contend with Taiwan’s outrageously interminable red light intervals, making life unambiguously more awesome for . . . no-one?
Guy
literally the only good and really smart thing about that intersection is the bus underpass and they wanna close it. actually dumb as fuck.
from the construction it also seems like they are removing the dedicated bus lane that leads down roosevelt blvd further to ntnu wanlong branch.
Narrowing pedestrian crossings all around the city because drivers keep killing pedestrians; now removing some functional dedicated bus lanes to make sure that public transport will be slower; carving out more scooter parking out of sidewalk space on Roosevelt Road . . . this may well be the most aggressively pro driver administration I’ve seen in my time in Taipei City. I am NOT impressed.
Guy
Some interesting analysis from Brian Hioe at New Bloom, especially concerning the role of civil society (a big deal in Taiwan!) and the Chiang mayorship’s inability or unwillingness to listen in the Gongguan demolition and in other recent cases. I wonder if there will be any political cost for this latest golden boy.
Guy
It’s (almost) done!
The removal of the Gongguan roundabout to make way for a controlled intersection was completed Monday morning at 6 a.m.
Say what you want about whether it makes sense or not - but the speed of roadwork construction projects in Taiwan can be astonishing sometimes…
Taipei City has just removed two dedicated bus lanes and added an estimated 180 seconds to public transport heading north-south at that unlovely intersection. My tax dollars were used to do this. I am sorry I am not in the right mood to celebrate this change, which is indeed “astonishing” but not for the reasons you mentioned! 
Guy
Why couldn’t they have kept the bus tunnel?
It seems they are hellbent on following their initial plan instead of listening to other legitimate concerns. They wanted that roundabout removed, and by setting up a conventional cross intersection they then realized that the structural weight would make the dedicated bus lanes passing under ground somehow vulnerable to collapse. So in their minds of course the dedicate bus lanes must be removed. 
Guy
I see. I appreciate the correction here.
The traffic tangle for drivers shown above is also however matched by deliberately engineered longer running times for the buses—reportedly up to 180 seconds added on in each direction due to this change. This alone makes the change a step backwards, not forward.
Guy
Covering everything with a layer of asphalt and painting some lines without a second thought is, indeed, faster than building proper infrastructure.
If you’re in the Taipei City area, I’d love for you to visit this newly renovated intersection (paid for by our tax dollars) and give us your analysis.
As should be clear, I hate it, but no doubt others will have more sophisticated views.
Guy
I’m from a small city with a renaissance historic downtown. I hate anything with more than 2 lanes.
Definitely that is more sophisticated than me! 
Guy