Stop Hopewell Roadkill, Fix Kennedy Road
Hopewell should NOT be allowed to build its MegaTower until Kennedy Road has been made safe with proper pavements. Don’t let Hopewell get away with murder. Send your comments to the Secretary for Transport. Click here for a standard letter.
Kennedy Road can not cope with Hopewell's additional MegaTower traffic. Traggic death of a domestic helper is the result of sub-standard road and pavements (above: less than 50cm wide).
Kennedy Road is a narrow winding road
Coaches and trucks from opposite directions can’t pass each other in the sharp bends. Despite years of slope stabilization works, sections of pavements along Kennedy Road are sub-standard or disappear entirely. Mothers and helpers with baby prams on the way to Hong Kong Park are forced to use the road and people get killed.
New developments add to traffic and danger
Traffic has gone up with the redevelopment of properties. The planned Hopewell Centre II will add a whopping 34,718 square meters of commercial/retail space and a 1,024 room mega hotel. Coaches, heavy goods vehicles, limousines, taxis and vans will use Kennedy Road where the main entrances will be located. Self-serving estimates by the developer itself assume that there will (only) be a 30% increase over current peak hour traffic.
The Transport Department has blood on its hands
Not only has the Transport Department failed to improve the foot paths every time slopes along Kennedy Road were fixed, it accepted the developer's 2008 'Hopewell Centre II Traffic Impact Assessment Report' enabling the new mega development along Kennedy Road to proceed.
The assessment hopelessly under-estimates the impact on traffic along Kennedy Road: it assumes the behaviour of travelers using the hotel to be similar to that of employees working in Hopewell Centre. It also assumes that goods vehicles and coaches are less than 5% of the traffic - significantly down from Hopewell’s previous estimate of 25% based on an accurate internal survey at Miramar Hotel in 2005.
Letting Hopewell get away with murder
These ridiculous assumptions conveniently result in an ‘acceptable’ impact of the MegaTower on already congested roads, including the links between Kennedy Road, Cotton Tree Drive and Garden Road. All Hopewell has been asked to complete before building its Kennedy Road MegaTower Complex (a.k.a. Hopewell Centre II):
1. A fly-over at their entrance (good for them and bad for everyone else);
2. A foot-bridge over Queen’s Road East (so that the pedestrian crossing at Ruttonjee Hospital can be removed - good for cars, bad for pedestrians);
3. Widening of a section of Queen’s Road East (narrowing the pavement which is bad for pedestrians but good for vehicles double parking in front of Hopewell’s Wu Chung House entrance on Queen’s Road East).
Fix Kennedy Road before adding traffic
The Transport Department must ensure that Kennedy Road is up to standard BEFORE supporting new developments.
If anything good has to come from Monday’s tragic death of a domestic helper let it be the geotechnical and engineering works required for standard width pedestrian pavements from Hopewell Centre to Hong Kong Park BEFORE allowing any additional traffic along Kennedy Road.
Let Government know what you think
Click here to send your letter demanding Kennedy Road improvements BEFORE permitting new developments.
Email [email protected] or visit www.kennedyroad.org for more information on the efforts of the Kennedy Road Protection Group.
Hopewell should NOT be allowed to build its MegaTower until Kennedy Road has been made safe with proper pavements. Don’t let Hopewell get away with murder. Send your comments to the Secretary for Transport. Click here for a standard letter.
Kennedy Road can not cope with Hopewell's additional MegaTower traffic. Traggic death of a domestic helper is the result of sub-standard road and pavements (above: less than 50cm wide).
Kennedy Road is a narrow winding road
Coaches and trucks from opposite directions can’t pass each other in the sharp bends. Despite years of slope stabilization works, sections of pavements along Kennedy Road are sub-standard or disappear entirely. Mothers and helpers with baby prams on the way to Hong Kong Park are forced to use the road and people get killed.
New developments add to traffic and danger
Traffic has gone up with the redevelopment of properties. The planned Hopewell Centre II will add a whopping 34,718 square meters of commercial/retail space and a 1,024 room mega hotel. Coaches, heavy goods vehicles, limousines, taxis and vans will use Kennedy Road where the main entrances will be located. Self-serving estimates by the developer itself assume that there will (only) be a 30% increase over current peak hour traffic.
The Transport Department has blood on its hands
Not only has the Transport Department failed to improve the foot paths every time slopes along Kennedy Road were fixed, it accepted the developer's 2008 'Hopewell Centre II Traffic Impact Assessment Report' enabling the new mega development along Kennedy Road to proceed.
The assessment hopelessly under-estimates the impact on traffic along Kennedy Road: it assumes the behaviour of travelers using the hotel to be similar to that of employees working in Hopewell Centre. It also assumes that goods vehicles and coaches are less than 5% of the traffic - significantly down from Hopewell’s previous estimate of 25% based on an accurate internal survey at Miramar Hotel in 2005.
Letting Hopewell get away with murder
These ridiculous assumptions conveniently result in an ‘acceptable’ impact of the MegaTower on already congested roads, including the links between Kennedy Road, Cotton Tree Drive and Garden Road. All Hopewell has been asked to complete before building its Kennedy Road MegaTower Complex (a.k.a. Hopewell Centre II):
1. A fly-over at their entrance (good for them and bad for everyone else);
2. A foot-bridge over Queen’s Road East (so that the pedestrian crossing at Ruttonjee Hospital can be removed - good for cars, bad for pedestrians);
3. Widening of a section of Queen’s Road East (narrowing the pavement which is bad for pedestrians but good for vehicles double parking in front of Hopewell’s Wu Chung House entrance on Queen’s Road East).
Fix Kennedy Road before adding traffic
The Transport Department must ensure that Kennedy Road is up to standard BEFORE supporting new developments.
If anything good has to come from Monday’s tragic death of a domestic helper let it be the geotechnical and engineering works required for standard width pedestrian pavements from Hopewell Centre to Hong Kong Park BEFORE allowing any additional traffic along Kennedy Road.
Let Government know what you think
Click here to send your letter demanding Kennedy Road improvements BEFORE permitting new developments.
Email [email protected] or visit www.kennedyroad.org for more information on the efforts of the Kennedy Road Protection Group.