Agreement No. CE 2/2011 (CE) Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area Executive Summary of Planning and Engineering Study Traffic and Transport Impact Assessment 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 The purpose of this report is to present the findings of traffic and transport impact assessment for the Revised Recommended Outline Development Plan (Revised RODP) for Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area (HSK NDA). 2 EXISTING TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORT NETWORK Existing Roads 2.1 External: The connections between HSK NDA and other districts are currently served by strategic roads/expressways as Yuen Long Highway (YLH) and Kong Sham Western Highway (KSWH), rural trunk roads as Castle Peak Road (CPR), district distributors as Hung Tin Road, Tin Ying Road, Tin Tsz Road, Long Tin Road, Tin Wah Road, and Tin Fuk Road. 2.2 The major internal roads within NDA include Ping Ha Road, Tin Ha Road and Lau Fau Shan Road. Other existing roads are in general narrow or are village roads. All these existing external and internal roads including their associated interchange and junctions were assessed operating within their capacity under the existing condition. Railway 2.3 External: Currently, the West Rail Line (WRL) is the only mass transit railway serving the area. It provides railway service between Tuen Mun and Kowloon. Tin Shui Wai (TSW) Station is now the nearest existing West Rail station to the HSK area and locates at the eastern edge of HSK area. 2.4 Internal: The existing Light Rail Transit (LRT) in the Northwest New Territories (NWNT) provides both intra and inter district public transport services for Tuen Mun, HSK, TSW and Yuen Long districts. However, its catchment only covers small part of the HSK NDA at the eastern and southern areas whereas most of the HSK NDA is outside the catchment of the existing LRT. 3 FUTURE TRAFFIC CONTEXT OF HSK NDA New Roads 3.1 External: On top of the existing transport network, some new strategic roads outside HSK NDA, either under construction or planning, are incorporated into assessment. These new strategic roads will improve the accessibility and road capacity in NWNT. These strategic roads will be timely provided at different stages of HSK NDA development. 3.2 Within HSK NDA, a new primary distributor Road P1, eight district distributors and local roads for access to each development site are proposed. Most of the existing roads for access to local villages and existing developments will be maintained. 3.3 Heavy vehicles travelling to and from the port backup, logistic areas and industrial sites of HSK NDA can use the new primary distributor, Road P1, and other direct access to the KSWH to avoid travelling through the residential areas of the HSK NDA. New Railway Station 3.4 According to Railway Development Strategy 2014, a new rail station would be provided in HSK NDA. i September 2016 Agreement No. CE 2/2011 (CE) Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area Executive Summary of Planning and Engineering Study Traffic and Transport Impact Assessment 4 ASSESSMENT OF TRAFFIC IMPACT Traffic Modelling and Assessment 4.1 A 2-tier transport modelling approach is adopted. Strategic Territorial Model (STM) is developed to provide quantitative input for highway capacity analysis of the major highway corridors, whereas Local Area Traffic Model (LATM) is developed to support the local network and junction design. 4.2 The model runs have identified the potential increase of traffic flow on YLH due to the proposed NDA development. Highway network improvement options are proposed to resolve the problem and minimize noise and pollution, and conceptual junction improvement schemes are also formulated to mitigate the poor performance of the problematic junctions which mainly are at CPR, Tin Ha Road and Ping Ha Road. Replacement of Tin Ying Road 4.3 The section of Tin Ying Road between Tin Wah Road and Ping Ha Road is proposed to be replaced in order to enhance the land use efficiency, better integrate with Tin Shui Wai area and to avoid widening of Hung Tin Road as well as Lam Tei section of YLH. Furthermore, the existing development at two sides of Hung Tin Road include on-going public housing development and village type development makes widening of Hung Tin Road infeasible. 4.4 Widening of the section of YLH between Tin Shui Wai West Interchange and Lam Tei Interchange will be required without this arrangement. With the proposed scheme of replacement of Tin Ying Road and downgrading of Hung Tin Road, the traffic flows on YLH between Lam Tei Interchange and Tong Yan San Tsuen Interchange will be reduced. Thus, the need for widening of YLH for these sections can be avoided. 4.5 If Tin Ying Road is replaced, traffic loading on Long Tin Road and Tin Tsz Road will increase. However, they will continue to operate within their design capacity. Traffic loading on Hung Tin Road on the other hand is comparable with the existing condition and hence widening works are avoided. Public Transport Strategy 4.6 WRL together with the future HSK Station will become the public transport backbone for HSK NDA. To support the WRL, a high-efficient feeder system is required to serve the large public transport demand. 4.7 Environmentally Friendly Transport Services (EFTS) will be provided as the major public transport system for HSK NDA as appropriate. 4.8 A Green Transit Corridor (GTC) has been reserved in the Revised RODP to allow future implementation of the EFTS, pedestrian walkways and cycle tracks. The GTC will be separated from other roads providing an obstacle-free access (detailed design subject to further study). 4.9 To have a thorough coverage of the NDA, the need to provide road-based public transport services apart from the EFTS would be reviewed. Three new Public Transport Interchanges (PTIs) are proposed in the Revised RODP. The provision for other public transport facilities will be further explored making reference to nearby new towns in N.T. 5 PEDESTRIAN AND CYCLIST NETWORKS 5.1 Currently, at the eastern part of HSK area, there is a continuous footpath network running in north-south direction along major rural roads. Only individual footpaths are provided along village roads and at the western part of HSK area. 5.2 Grade-separated pedestrian facilities, such as subways or footbridges, are provided across roundabouts. Signal controlled crossing would also be provided at the signalized junctions and/or mid-block location if necessary. ii September 2016 Agreement No. CE 2/2011 (CE) Hung Shui Kiu New Development Area Executive Summary of Planning and Engineering Study Traffic and Transport Impact Assessment 5.3 Cycling within HSK NDA is proposed to serve not only leisure purpose but also for short distance commuting purpose. Apart from the GTC, a comprehensive cycle track network, integrated with the existing cycle track network in NWNT, is proposed within HSK NDA. The cycle track would also link with the heritage trail to attract more visitors. 5.4 Sufficient cycling supporting facilities such as cycle parking areas would be provided at important activity nodes, such as HSK Station, PTIs and major residential developments. In addition, bicycle rental services would be considered. 6 CONCLUSIONS 6.1 The potential traffic and transport problems and corresponding mitigation measures are identified in the report. 6.2 The recommended new road networks and improvement works would be able to support the HSK NDA development. EFTS, as feeder services connecting the WRL stations and LRT stations is proposed with supplemented road-based bus services. It is concluded that the Revised RODP is technically feasible in traffic and transport terms. iii September 2016 .