A project to bolster the east coast Suhua Highway against natural disasters yesterday passed a preliminary environmental impact assessment, after a Ministry of Environment committee ordered more precautions to be added to protect woodlands and rivers.
The project entails buttressing sections of the highway left out of a previous road improvement plan completed four years ago, Directorate-General of Highways Director Chen Wen-juei (陳文瑞) told the committee in Taipei.
The unimproved sections are a 5.3km stretch from Hualien County’s Heping Township (和平) to Hejhong (和中) in Sioulin Township (秀林) and a 15.1km stretch from Chongde (崇德) to Heren (和仁), and a 9.3km stretch from Dongao (東澳) to Nanao (南澳) in Yilan County, Chen said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
A massive earthquake on April 3, measuring magnitude 7.2 on the Richter scale, and its aftershocks caused rockslides along the sections, cutting the only highway that directly links Hualien to northern Taiwan, he said.
The proposed project is to include a new bridge across the Dacingshui River (大清水溪) and a tunnel through Taroko National Park, he said.
The committee approved the preliminary impact assessment on condition that the bureau provide extra documentation before the end of July for the next meeting.
The requested information includes a cost-benefit analysis of the proposed construction sites and measures to protect the road from rockfalls to address concerns over the geological instability of the corridor from Hualien to Yilan County’s Suao Township (蘇澳), it said.
The bureau must also provide details on the design and impact mitigation measures for two of the temporary roads running through Taroko National Park that trucks would use to transport soil dug up during construction, it said.
The government should establish locations around the construction sites to monitor any potentially negative effects on the environment, especially the region’s woodlands and rivers, the committee said.
It urged bureau planners to come up with solutions that would help preserve or increase biodiversity as part of the project.
The bureau aims for the project to be shovel-ready by early 2027 and finished by 2032, if the proposal passes the formal environmental impact assessment in three months, Chen told a post-meeting news conference.
Meanwhile, the bureau expects to reopen Suhua Highway to large vehicles by the end of the month, as it works on enlarging the road’s foundation, he said, adding that slopes would be shored up by the end of the year.
The highway is open three times per day in the morning, at midday and in the evening, but cannot be fully reopened until slope repairs are complete, he said.
Strengthening the highway against natural disasters is crucial for increasing Taiwan’s resilience amid a worsening climate crisis, Chen said.
Typhoons and earthquakes pose a threat to infrastructure on the nation’s east coast, he added.
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