Modern cities are often faced with “walkability” problems. They are plagued by high pedestrian flow, heavy traffic and ever-increasing industrial, commercial and leisure activities. As urban design in the past did not foresee the enormous changes of today, we often face an overloaded road capacity in the process of urban development.

As a busy modern city, Hong Kong has its share of conflict between pedestrians and vehicles. However, our problems are probably even more complicated than those in other cities due to our high population density, busy lifestyle and limited space with narrow urban streets. A foreign friend of mine once told me he could only arrange one meeting per day in Europe and two at most in London. In Hong Kong, however, we can arrange four meetings per day on average and many can even manage more. Many of us have to hit the streets a number of times every day, which, among other factors, leads to serious congestion.

The Government is committed to transforming Kowloon East from an old industrial area into a new commercial district, and two of the main challenges are improving the walking environment and alleviating traffic congestion. In the course of the district’s transformation, as trucks are loading and unloading among the old industrial buildings, the traffic situation has become more complicated than in other commercial districts.

Balancing the needs of various parties

Faced with the varying needs of pedestrians, trucks, private cars and other vehicles, our colleagues at the Energizing Kowloon East Office (EKEO), the Transport Department and the Highways Department have been striving to put together effective strategies that can strike a balance between the various road users and formulate measures to keep pace with the transformation of Kowloon East.

To improve the pedestrian environment, the EKEO launched an initiative to create a “walkable” Kowloon East in mid-2012. Over the past two years, we have completed  short-term traffic improvement works at 24 locations and reviewed 41 signalized junctions with signal timing adjusted where necessary. Apart from carrying out short-term initiatives, we have also been proactively exploring a long-term and comprehensive pedestrian linkage network. For instance, we launched the Stage 3 public engagement for the “Kowloon Bay Business Area Pedestrian Environment Improvement – Feasibility Study” early last week, in which a number of specific medium- to long-term proposals for the pedestrian linkage network have been proposed. 

On the other hand, we will also roll out initiatives for enhancing overall connectivity in Kowloon East, such as the pedestrian and traffic study in the Kwun Tong Business Area. In the long run, to cope with the upsurge in traffic demand under the constraints of limited road space, we propose to implement the “Elevated Monorail Environmentally Friendly Linkage System”, together with other road-based transport systems, to improve connectivity within the district. In addition, we are taking forward the Central Kowloon Route to improve Kowloon East’s inter-district connections. All the above measures complement one another in the development of Kowloon East at the strategic planning, inter-district and local district levels. We believe that the pedestrian and traffic environment will be substantially improved in the future Kowloon East.

Appreciation of local trust and support

Urban transformation is always a complicated process which requires support from all sectors of the community. The EKEO has received staunch support from the Kwun Tong District Council (KTDC) all along. For example, with its support, it took us only a year or so to complete most of our early road improvement measures from conception to completion. Also, thanks to the KTDC, the dozens of road improvement measures mentioned above are being carried out in a progressive manner. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the local community for their trust and assistance.  Without their support, it would have taken a much longer time for Kowloon East to become more pedestrian-friendly and benefit the public.

Frequently, an apparently simple task may involve the work of a number of government departments. Colleagues from various departments have collaborated in bringing about improvements to road design, greening and environmental cleanliness and management in Kowloon East. Given that there is a substantial amount of challenging work ahead and there is still plenty of room for improvement, we will strive to keep our momentum going and make Kowloon East a better place. With your support and encouragement, our vision of a “walkable” Kowloon East could be realised much sooner.