The Chiang Wei-shui Freeway continued to experience heavy traffic yesterday following the official opening of the Hsuehshan Tunnel on Thursday which has encouraged more motorists to use the road.
The Pinglin Traffic Control Center reported that after 7am the number of cars driving through the tunnel each hour exceeded 1,000.
By noon, over 10,000 cars, both northbound and southbound, had passed through the tunnel.
In addition, the Taiwan Area National Expressway Bureau continued to control the traffic flow on the Chiang Wei-shui Freeway by regulating the number of cars coming from the Formosa Freeway interchange at Nangang, causing the traffic on the latter to back up for 2km.
The National Highway Police Bureau also reported that a total of 66 tickets were issued on Friday for violations of driving safety regulations in the tunnel, 43 of which were for speeding offenses.
Meanwhile, Minister of Transportation and Communications Kuo Yao-chi (
"There is no change in anyone's position as of now," Kuo said.
Media reports suggested that Chiou would be forced to step down after failing to locate an appropriate jeep for Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and three other former premiers to use to drive through the tunnel during its opening ceremony.
Reports said it was the Directorate General of Highways (DGH) that managed to find a suitable jeep.
It took Su almost 15 minutes to start the stick-shift jeep, however, which turned into a gaffe broadcast nationwide. This angered Kuo, leading to her decision to replace Chiou, the reports added.
Chiou denied the reports yesterday, saying he has not handed in his resignation and does not have any plans for early retirement.
Kuo said yesterday she would not punish her staff for minor mistakes, but said she did ask Chiou to seek assistance from the DGH in finding an appropriate jeep earlier this week. Kuo later discovered that Chiou had not contacted the DGH for help.
While denying the reports, Kuo gave indications of dissatisfaction with Chiou's performance when she talked with the Taipei Times yesterday.
She said that Chiou did not appear to have a full grasp of the work on the tunnel whenever he was consulted.
"The credit for completing the Hsuehshan Tunnel should be given to people who have been working at the construction site all these years, not the expressway engineering bureau," she said, adding that the tunnel construction was nearly halted when she became minister in February.
Kuo added that the tunnel's construction workers had been under considerable pressure. Occupational hazards, questioning of the project, derision from legislators and the announcement of the delayed opening of the tunnel were all demoralizing, she said.
"[To them] it was like the construction of the tunnel would never end," she said.
Kuo noted that the Ministry will announce new management for some of the bureaus next month or in August.
Sources within the ministry have indicated that Chiou, along with the chief of the Bureau of High Speed Rail, Wu Fu-hsiang (吳福祥), and the chief of the Taiwan Area National Expressway Bureau, Chen Chien-yu (陳建宇), will be asked to leave their positions.
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
RSS