Traffic on Highway No. 17 in Pingtung County will soon flow uninterrupted because a new bridge will soon be completed, the -Directorate-General of Highways (DGH) said.
The DGH said the Shuangyuan Bridge (雙園橋) connecting Linyuan (林園), Greater Kaohsiung, to Sinyuan (新園), Pingtung County, was an important route between the two counties.
The old Shuangyuan bridge was damaged by Typhoon -Morakot in August 2009, with about 400m completely destroyed by the flood.
“We managed to resume traffic on the old bridge by building a temporary steel bridge,” said Yu Cheng-yu (余成鈺), a section chief at the DGH’s southern engineering office.
“Then we built another new bridge nearby, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year,” Yu said.
The DGH put the cost of construction for the new bridge at NT$3.8 billion (US$125.8 million), making it the most expensive bridge to be rebuilt.
Costs were high because the entire construction involved about 3km, including the main bridge and passages leading to the bridge, it said.
To make sure the new bridge could withstand future floods, it was built with only 19 piers, down from 67.
The width of the bridge was also widened from 19m to 26m, making it possible to accommodate two fast lanes, one slow lane and a bike lane.
The DGH said northbound lanes on the bridge opened for traffic in September, adding that two-way traffic would be opened by the end of this month.
Meanwhile, the Donggang Bridge (東港橋) in Pingtung County is scheduled to be completed by August next year. Northbound lanes could be opened on Aug. 26.
The DGH said the new Donggang Bridge is also designed to withstand floods, adding that it was built with only five piers. It was also widened to 28m and was lengthened to 382m.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
New Taipei City prosecutors have indicted a cram school teacher in Sinjhuang District (新莊) for allegedly soliciting sexual acts from female students under the age of 18 three times in exchange for cash payments. The man, surnamed Su (蘇), committed two offenses in 2023 and one last year, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. The office in recent days indicted Su for contraventions of the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act (兒童及少年性剝削防制條例), which prohibits "engaging in sexual intercourse or lewd acts with a minor over the age of 16, but under the age of 18 in exchange for
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS