Motorists in Macao can look forward to swifter commutes now that the tunnel between Cotai and Ká Hó has been completed.
The tunnel connects Avenida do Aeroporto in east Cotai and Estrada de Nossa Senhora de Ká Hó, and can save about 10 minutes’ driving, according to the Transport Bureau (DSAT).
The 500-metre-long tunnel has four vehicular lanes – two in each direction, with a speed limit of 50 kilometres per hour.
Pedestrians and bicycles are forbidden to use the tunnel. Vehicles with a height of over five metres, vehicles transporting flammable and explosive substances, and those transporting other hazardous materials are also barred from using the tunnel, which opened at 10:30 am on Friday.
Before Ká Hó Tunnel opened, drivers could only travel between Taipa and Coloane through Cotai via Avenida Marginal Flor de Lótus at the west end of Cotai or via Estrada do Istmo – informally known as Cotai Strip – in central Cotai.
Ká Hó Tunnel enables drivers to travel between east Cotai and Coloane, so it will help improve Taipa-Coloane traffic and divert vehicular flows from Avenida Marginal Flor de Lótus and Estrada do Istmo.
The DSAT noted that now vehicles can “directly” travel to Ká Hó, which is at the east of Coloane, from Avenida do Aeroporto in east Cotai “without the need to drive for a long distance” by using Estrada do Istmo and Estrada do Altinho de Ká Hó.
The government first announced its plan to build a tunnel under a hill in Ká Hó in 2009. The tunnel project was initially scheduled to be completed in 2017. The tunnel has cost a total of MOP 175 million (US$ 21.8 million) and took 720 days to complete.
The project broke ground in 2012, when construction of surrounding road networks started. The main part of the project, the tunnel hole-through, commenced three years later, but was delayed due to stricter regulations on transporting explosives from the mainland to Macao in the wake of the Tianjin catastrophe in August 2015, when 173 people were killed after poorly stored explosive materials detonated, The Macau Post Daily reported.
