Various parts of Taiwan’s freeway network will face high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) restrictions to regulate traffic over the upcoming four-day weekend, the Freeway Bureau said Friday.
The bureau estimated that traffic during the extended weekend will be 20-50 percent higher than normal, with congestion expected to be seen on southbound lanes on the first two days of the break and on northbound lanes during the last two days of the holiday.
To manage the projected traffic, the bureau decided that designated HOV areas, which in Taiwan require there to be at least three people in a vehicle, will be imposed on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday.
On Saturday, HOV restrictions will be imposed on all southbound National Freeway No. 1 entrance ramps from Taipei’s Neihu to Miaoli’s Toufen and on all southbound National Freeway No. 3 entrance ramps from Taipei’s Muzha to Hsinchu’s Xiangshan between 6 a.m. and noon.
On Monday and Tuesday, the HOV restrictions will be applied to northbound entrance ramps in Yilan County’s Su’ao, Luodong, Yilan and Toucheng on National Freeway No. 5 between 2 p.m. and 9 p.m.
The bureau said the 9 p.m. end of the restrictions could be adjusted depending on the traffic conditions seen each day.
Aside from the HOV restrictions, some ramps will also be closed at various times throughout the long weekend.
On Saturday, southbound entrances at Taoyuan’s Pingzhen interchange and Changhua’s Puyan interchange on National Freeway No. 1 will be closed between 5 a.m. and noon, and southbound entrances on National Freeway No. 5 in New Taipei’s Shiding and Pinglin will be closed between 12 a.m. and noon.
On Sunday, southbound ramps at Changhua’s Puyan interchange on National Freeway No. 1 and on National Freeway No. 5 in New Taipei’s Shiding and Pinglin will be closed between 5 a.m and noon.
On both days, however, the southbound ramps in Shiding will be open to buses, the bureau said.
On Monday and Tuesday, northbound entrances at Changhua’s Puyan interchange and Yunlin’s Huwei interchange on National Freeway No. 1, and on the West Coast Expressway (Provincial Highway No. 61) will be closed between noon and 9 p.m.
The bureau said, meanwhile, that it expected traffic to be heavy on Friday between 9 p.m. and midnight at southbound entrances on National Freeway No. 5 from the Nangang interchange to the Toucheng interchange in Yilan County.
It made the same prediction for southbound entrances on National Freeway No. 1 between Taoyuan’s Yangmei and Hsinchu City and for southbound entrances on National Freeway No. 3 from New Taipei’s Tucheng to Hsinchu County’s Guanxi between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel