The largest highway project under construction in Hong Kong, the 13.6-kilometer Route 8, will open in phases from next year, a government press release quoted Hong Kong Director of Highways Mak Chai-kwong as saying on Sunday.

He said the Route 8 links Sha Tin and Tsing Yi in the New Territories via Cheung Sha Wan in Kowloon and the new route will offer quick access to the airport from the northeast New Territories.

Mak Chai-kwong said the Kowloon Section of Route 8, including the Lai Chi Kok Viaduct, will open next year. The Route 8's Tsing Yi Section, including Stonecutters Bridge, will be completed in 2008 to 2009.

He said the Route 8 includes Stonecutters Bridge -- a cable-stayed bridge straddling Rambler Channel with a main span of 1,018 meters.

He said the construction started in phases in April 2002. By last June about 70 percent of the work on the Sha Tin-Cheung Sha Wan section (Kowloon section) had been finished, with about half the works on the Cheung Sha Wan-Tsing Yi section (Tsing Yi section) completed.

The last two decades has been a period of rapid growth in Hong Kong, Mak said, noting the city has built some world-class transport infrastructure in that time.

"We were involved in the implementation of six of the 10 Airport Core Program Projects -- the North Lantau Highway, the Lantau Link, the West Kowloon Highway, the Route 3 Country Park Section, the Western Harbor Crossing and the Airport Railway.

Hong Kong also saw its railway network expanded, including the Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation's West Rail, the East Rail Extension to Tsim Sha Tsui, the Disneyland Resort Line and some other projects, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 28, 2006)