📋 Tender Overview
Following is a question by the Hon Chan Siuhung and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Logistics Ms Mable Chan in the Legislative Council today October 7
Question
There are views that smart motorways are important infrastructure for promoting the application of autonomous driving technology The Government should during the initial planning and design stages of the Northern Metropolis NM plan for the construction of smart motorways to tie in with the scale of autonomous vehicles and the development for their commercial operation and should develop NM into a demonstration base for smart transport and autonomous driving In this connection will the Government inform this Council
1 whether it has estimated the length in kilometres of new public roads to be constructed in NM whether the Government will plan for the construction of smart motorways in NM if so of the specific road sections to be covered as well as the relevant technical details and standards if not the reasons for that
2 whether the Government will incorporate the vehicleroadcloud integrated system into the NM development plan and set clear targets such as achieving a specific coverage in kilometres before 2030 if so of the details if not the reasons for that
3 whether it has assessed the requisite vehicletoeverything and smart road infrastructure for promoting autonomous driving technology at Level 4 or above whether the authorities will establish standards for the relevant infrastructure if so of the specific construction projects technical specifications and the list of roads expected to be covered in the first phase if not the reasons for that and
4 whether the Government will expedite the promotion of digital transformation of motorways and the construction of smart motorways as well as set clear targets such as achieving digitalisation on strategic routes and major motorways before 2035 if so of the details if not the reasons for that
Reply
President
The Government is actively promoting smart mobility and the development of smart motorways and has been closely monitoring the advancement of autonomous driving technology and VehicletoEverything V2X with a view to further enhancing road safety and transport efficiency
Having consulted the Civil Engineering and Development Department CEDD the reply to the question raised by the Member is as follows
1 and 4 Under the Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal Corridors infrastructure layout the Government is expediting the implementation of major road projects relating to the Northern Metropolis Based on the estimates of projects currently under construction or in the planning stage nearly 170 kilometres of new public roads will be constructed in the Northern Metropolis including approximately 24 kilometres of major roads connecting various development nodes within the Northern Metropolis as well as approximately 144 kilometres of local road networks within the New Development Areas NDAs
In accordance with the recommendations in the Transport Strategy Blueprint the Government is progressively implementing smart motorway management on major roads including those within the Northern Metropolis To this end the Highways Department HyD is carrying out the design for the approximately 24kilometrelong Northern Metropolis Highway in accordance with smart motorway standards of which the Northern Metropolis Highway San Tin Section is expected to open in 2034 two years ahead of schedule As for existing major roads the CEDD is also seizing the opportunity arising from the road widening works of the San Tin Highway San Tin Section and the Fanling Highway Kwu Tung Section to prioritise the incorporation of smart motorway elements into the approximately 74kilometre road sections which are expected to be completed in 2031
The Transport Department TD will continue to liaise closely with relevant departments to progressively implement smart motorway management on existing major roads as well as those at an early planning stage leveraging technology to enhance the transport efficiency and resilience of the road network At the same time to take forward smart motorway management the TD is updating relevant technical guidelines for reference by the industry which are expected to be completed within this year This includes establishing criteria for introducing smart motorways for major roads and the equipment configuration requirements under different application scenarios such as the Automatic Incident Detection System using AI technology and the lane control signals and variable message signs required to tie in with various smart motorway applications As for the local roads within NDAs the Government will also make good use of new technologies to improve traffic efficiency and enhance the pedestrian environment such as installing the Realtime Adaptive Traffic Signal System RTATSS at suitable new junctions
In addition the TD will study the setting up of a Traffic Management Platform that will integrate traffic and transport data leverage big data analytics and AI technology to predict traffic fluctuations identify bottlenecks and formulate contingency plans thereby assisting in traffic management and transport planning In the future the traffic data collected from the implementation of smart motorway management for major roads will be integrated with other traffic data on the Traffic Management Platform to achieve seamless traffic management
Regarding the digital transformation of highway and bridge infrastructure the HyD has fully adopted Building Information Modelling BIM technology in major road infrastructure projects such as the Central Kowloon Bypass Yau Ma Tei Section the Tsing Lung Bridge at the southern end of Route 11 and the Northern Metropolis Highway to enhance precision and reduce design conflicts Highprecision 3D asbuilt digital models will also be delivered upon completion of the projects These digital models will b
