According to the TT, the Hsuehshan tunnel is set to open in a few days and will allow traffic through to Ilan by the end of the year. Hoopla. The tunnel, in case you don’t know is part of a new #5 highway connecting Taipei (via the number 3 near the exit to Nangang I think) with Ilan. The route shortens the driving time to 30 minutes from the old 2 hours.
The highway ends around Toucheng which will open Ilan county to day tripping.
The presence of the new highway should also really help to break up traffic on the coast highway. Now drivers can return to taipei via the #2 coastal route, the #9 through Pinglin, or the new #5. Expect far better traffic in the future.
The old highway to Pinglin, the number 9, should receive much less traffic now. Certainly there should be little need for trucks to rumble along those tortuous roads. This is very welcome as the ride to Pinglin from Xindian is a lovely journey only spoiled in the past by too much traffic.
While the new #5 highway passes right by Pinglin you cannot exit. However, you can take the highway to Shihting and then take a country road to Pinglin. I forget the name of this road but it is windy as hell and gorgeouly scenic.
In other tunnel news the tunnel from the Mucha interchange to xinyi road or thereabouts (Warner Village, taipei 101 area) is due to open soon too. For Mucha residents this means being able to drive to the Warner Brothers area in about 15 minutes. For Warner brother area residents it means the reverse.
From my place in Mucha I can get to the Shihting exit (which has been opened for a while) in 15-20 minutes. But only five minutes of that journey are actually on the new highway. In other words, from the start of the highway off the number 3 to Shihting it is about 5 minutes. Shihting is about 1/4 of the way to Toucheng and the end of the highway. I doubt whether you can get all the way into Ilan City in 30 minutes but 40-50 minutes from Mucha wouldn’t surprise me.
That’s still saving way more than an hour’s time and on a far safer road. I’m always a wreck after driving to Ilan on the old highway.
Also this route should have far fewer traffic problems than the old route. On the old highway you could be jammed up in Xindian and anywhere along route, in particular Pinglin where the road slows down as curves through town.
It took me 12 hours once to drive back from Ilan. With several options now I doubt that will ever be the case again.
Oh, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. It’ll be great. Just have issues with this ‘30 minutes’ bullshit.
Another good thing will be that it should take a shitload of traffic off the NE Coast Highway, the road to Ruifang, and even to Xindian, and the highway as far as Badu, I guess.
Took us 4 hours to get from Jilong to Ilan one New Year.
Oh, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. It’ll be great. Just have issues with this ‘30 minutes’ bullshit.
Another good thing will be that it should take a shitload of traffic off the NE Coast Highway, the road to Ruifang, and even to Xindian, and the highway as far as Badu, I guess.
Took us 4 hours to get from Jilong to Ilan (Yilan) one New Year.
Brian[/quote]
Exactly. Anyone in the north of taipei can take the coast highway to say Fulong or even farther to Ilan. Anyone in the south of taipei can take the #5 or even the #9.
I’ve been eagerly looking forward to the opening of the new highway for quite some time. The prospect of being able to zip off along a thinly-trafficked Beiyi Road to Pinglin and beyond was one of the main factors that prompted me to buy my flat just off that road the year before last.
However, will it really be in use before the end of this year? I thought Premier Yu reiterated only yesterday that it’ll be open to traffic late next year.
[quote=“Omniloquacious”]I’ve been eagerly looking forward to the opening of the new highway for quite some time. The prospect of being able to zip off along a thinly-trafficked Beiyi Road to Pinglin and beyond was one of the main factors that prompted me to buy my flat just off that road the year before last.
However, will it really be in use before the end of this year? I thought Premier Yu reiterated only yesterday that it’ll be open to traffic late next year.[/quote]
The TT article said they were having an opening ceremony on the 16th. Could that beacon of journalistic integrity be wrong?
Just a tad past the Wulai turning, a bit before the Qingtan Elementary School. It’s the tallest building (or clutch of buildings) in the area, on the left as you head towards Pinglin.
Actually, I am looking forward (probably misguidedly) to the day that bikes can go on the highway. The day has to come with all these heavy bikes around now, and in the future.
Why can’t we use the damn bridge to make a straight run down Chungshan North Road past the Grand Hotel? Makes no sense.
God damn it. Now Yilan will be even more filled with day-trippers from Taipei on the weekend. There was nothing like weaving my scooter through miles of traffic on Highway 9 on late Sunday afternoons, shaking my fist at all the SUVs with the too-low factory installed tires as if I were a local myself. “Go back to your fancy coffeeshops, you God damned cityfolk!”
/no longer lives in Yilan, so no logical reason to be bitter
Looks great! Yeah, I did that 10 hour trip from Ilan to Taipei once too, about eight years ago. We just drove the coast last month just before the big typhoon, got some great pics. Taiwan’s treasure, it is.
I guess what the TaipeiTimes means is that on the 16th of September they will have finally finished the tunnel and will have a ceremony to mark the completion of the digging. Maybe they will leave a sliver of dirt for Premier Yu to ceremoniously poke a shovel through as Champagne corks are popped. They will still have to complete concrete walls and road etc, and it won’t be open for traffic until the end of next year.
[quote]“We will see the final breakthrough in the tunnel on September 16. By the end of next year, people can travel from Taipei to Ilan in 30 minutes,” said Lin Ling-shan (
Not only does it free up Bei-yi, but makes the 106/102 Shenkang-Fulong route even more biker friendly.
It will also take most of the trucks off of the Northern Section of the Bing-hai Road. I for one won’t miss seeing the weekly deluge of crushed vehicles.
Let them build their freeways…It just gives us more room to play on the truly cool mountain roads. :happybiker:
In my inebriated post doze haze it occurs to me that “truly cool” is exactly what Taiwan needs more of. Not Mick and Malory type truly cool but Supernatural B.C. type truly cool. Mountain bike cool. Ride to the top and swoosh back down - look ma no hands! - cool. Hike in the jungle/ jump in the surf nude cool. If Taiwan could embrace that kind of cool then it’s standing would sky rocket in the international community and we would be living large under U.N. protection in no time.
Looks like Omni was right. According to today’s TT, the highway won’t be ready till next year. Bastards, how long does it take to line a tunnel with fluorescent tubes? :fume:
Perhaps there will be a few more exits opened. You can get to Shihting now. Pinglin is only for trucks from what I’ve heard. Oh whatever, my Christmas is ruined. I was thinking heading up to Wuling Farm. Now it’s going to take me an extra hour. Santa will be gone by the time I check in. :fume:
