New Tuen Mun-airport Link Long Overdue: Expert

The government announced on Wednesday that a new route linking Tuen Mun and the city's airport will open on December 27, saying it will cut journey times and provide alternative access to Chek Lap Kok.

The Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Northern Connection links Tuen Mun South and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge port area with a five-kilometre long undersea tunnel.

The Transport and Housing Bureau said the route will offer a more direct route between the northwest New Territories and Lantau, with journey times from Tuen Mun South to the airport cut by about 20 minutes.

Transport expert Hung Wing-tat from the Polytechnic University told RTHK that a second route to the airport was long overdue.

"It makes a little bit of danger if anything happens to that particular [Lantau Link]. For example, a traffic accident can jam pack the entire link, and I think we've had that sort of thing happening in the past," he said.

The Lantau Link was brought to a standstill for several hours in October 2015 after a barge struck Kap Shui Mun Bridge. The incident closed off the link, effectively cutting the airport off from the rest of the city and creating a logistical nightmare for passengers scrambling to catch flights.

Hung said this new second link to the airport was therefore very important in case of emergencies, and being a tunnel means it shouldn't be affected by weather.

"The only thing that I don't think is adequate is that they don't have a rail link – it is only a road link," Hung said. "It means that if you take the railway, you still have to go round Kowloon, loop round the main bridge to access the airport."

The government also said once the tunnel opens, tolls for the new route as well as the existing Lantau Link will be waived.

Hung said this was sensible as the northwest New Territories is a key source of labour, and the airport will need to hire more people once its third runway opens.

"It makes a lot of sense for labour accessibility, for other freight transport, especially transportation of goods from the airport to the northwest New Territories," he said.