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Construction of Emergency Vehicular Access at Yung Shue Wan
Dr Sarah Liao June 10th, 2003 Dear Dr Liao, I am a resident of Tai Wan Kau Tsuen, and live close to the proposed works, and I and my family, including my 5-year-old daughter, use the affected paths and roads every day. I am writing to object to the this for the following reasons: Safety -- the supposed motivation for this project: Ninety percent of the "traffic" here are pedestrians, (human and animal) the rest bicycles and trolleys, and a small number of village vehicles which nevertheless push all else aside. All the "improvements" are designed solely to speed up motor traffic. With no separation of pedestrians possible, this alone will make Yung Shue Wan a much more dangerous and unpleasant place, especially for children (and the proposed works include routes going past both the kindergarten that my daughter attends and the primary school) who ride bicycles and scooters, as well as elderly pedestrians. The existing road from the fire station is 2 metres wide, recently improved for use by the emergency vehicles, which have a width of 1.5 m. The proposed road is 2.5-3.5 m. Currently the speed of emergency vehicles is not limited by the road, but by the pedestrian traffic. Considering the short distances involved, the actual time saved for emergency vehicles will be at most a few seconds. The new "emergency vehicle access" road DOES NOT connect to the fire station where all the emergency vehicles are based, but bypasses it, and the slope works will actually make emergency access to the area below more difficult (now this is just 20 metres' walk from the fire station -- a road is not needed for firefighting). Lamma’s emergency vehicles have been designed to use the narrow footpaths that provide access to nearly all homes. These footpaths have been upgraded at public expense over the last three years to 1.7-2.3 metres. This path width is more than adequate to handle the axle-width of the new fire trucks and bikes. The application of an arbitrary urban width standard is inappropriate. Destruction of amenity Many mature trees along the main path towards Hung Shing Yeh, and much of the wooded slopes around Yung Shue Ling and Shau Shan Terrace will be destroyed by the proposed road, as well as sitting-out areas and gardens. In addition, the proposed cutting of slopes and fill-slopes eat into the Yung Shue Long Valley -- an area of natural beauty, and one of the few remaining wetlands in Yung Shue Wan. The massive slopeworks proposed will destroy the natural drainage of the valley, and it will become yet another slimy concrete drain that floods in the rain. It is obvious the route was proposed by local construction interests who wish the government to facilitate their real estate projects. I object to this being done under the false pretenses of improving safety for the community when the result will be the opposite. I hope that you will take my objection into consideration, and that you will not grant this project authorisation in anything like its proposed form. What road improvements are made must take into account local traffic patterns -- primarily pedestrians and bicycles. Simply scaling down urban road standards will make life here more dangerous and the landscape much uglier. I look forward to hearing from you and remain
Yours sincerely, |