Tai Po Road (大埔公路 for New Territories sections, 大埔道 for Kowloon section) is the first highway in Hong Kong, which now extends from the junction of Boundary Street in Sham Shui Po northwards to Hong Lok Yuen in Tai Po.
All KMB stop numbers along Tai Po Road (New Territories and Kowloon sections) are prefixed with TA21.
History[]
Tai Po Road is the earliest highway in the New Territories and was opened to traffic in the early 20th century. At that time, it extended from Boundary Street northwards to Sheung Shui, where it connected with Castle Peak Road.
Compared with Castle Peak Road, Tai Po Road has become a different road from before due to a number of infrastructural developments, and some sections of the road are not connected to each other. Tai Po Road has now been shortened to end at Hong Lok Yuen.
Tai Wo to Fanling sections[]
In the 1980s, the Government developed new towns and cross-border links in the northern part of the New Territories by constructing the Tolo Highway and Fanling Highway to connect Man Kam To and Lok Ma Chau, with part of the Tai Wo section of the Tai Po Road and the entire Fanling section (from the junction of Jockey Club Road - Sha Tau Kok Highway - Lung Yeuk Tau Section to Sheung Shui Choi Yuen Estate) being reconstructed[1].
In addition, the Fanling section was also known as "Fan Sheung Road" (粉上路) in the early years.
- Fanling Section:
- Section from Choi Yuen Estate to So Kwun Po Road: converted to Fanling Highway
- Section from So Kwun Po Road to Fanling Magistracy: subsumed into one of the newly constructed San Wan Road and Sha Tau Kok Road - Lung Yeuk Tau
- Section between Fanling Magistracy (now Fanling Law Courts Building) and Tong Hang: became an extension of Jockey Club Road
- Tai Wo section:
- Section between Hong Lok Yuen and Tong Hang: converted to Fanling Highway and Tai Wo Service Road West
Tai Po section[]
Kwong Fuk Road was once part of Tai Po Road, but was renamed "Tai Po Main Street" (大埔大街) in the 1930s, before Tai Po Road was split into its various sections.
Ho Tung Lau section[]
The Ho Tung Lau section used to connect the Fo Tan nullah to Kau To Hang. When the brand new Tai Po Road was built to the east of the present Jubilee Garden during the development of the Sha Tin New Town in the 1970s, the section was gazetted as the Sha Tin section on 19 June 1981, while the section at Kau To Shan was gazetted as the Ma Liu Shui section [2]. Since then, the Ho Tung Lau section has been divided by the Sha Tin section and the Ma Liu Shui section. The old sections of the Ho Tung Lau Section were also substantially reconstructed and part of them were gazetted as Lok King Street and Lok Shun Path between 1984 and 1985.
Sha Tin to Tai Wai section[]
The Shing Mun Tunnel Road and Trunk Road T3 of Tsing Sha Highway have been reconstructed, and some sections are no longer interconnected, as shown in the relevant articles.
Section introduction[]
| Section name | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Section name | First connecting point | Second connecting point | Remarks |
| Kowloon section (also named Tai Po Road) | Boundary Street | Caldecott Road | Southern end |
| Piper's Hill | Caldecott Road | Kam Shan Road | |
| Sha Tin Heights | Kam Shan Road | Tsing Sha Highway | |
| Intermittent section | |||
| Tai Wai | Tai Wai Road | Lion Rock Tunnel Road/Sha Tin Centre Street | [Remark 1] |
| Intermittent section | |||
| Sha Tin | Shing Mun Tunnel Road | Sha Tin Racecourse Interchange | Connects to Tsing Sha Highway[Remark 2], a section of Route 9 The section from Fo Tan Road to Tolo Highway is an expressway |
| Ma Liu Shui | Sha Tin Racecourse Interchange | Boundary between Sha Tin and Tai Po districts | |
| Tai Po Kau | Boundary between Sha Tin and Tai Po districts | Wong Yi Au[Remark 3] | |
| Yuen Chau Tsai | Wong Yi Au[Remark 3] | Nam Wan Road, Kwong Fuk Road | |
| Intermittent section | |||
| Tai Wo | Tai Po Tai Wo Road, Po Nga Road | Lam Kam Road Interchange | Northern end |
Remarks[]
- ↑ It was originally connected to Tai Po Road - Sha Tin Heights, but due to the construction of the Tsing Sha Highway project, it has been changed to a slip road from Tsing Sha Highway to connect this section with Tai Po Road - Sha Tin Heights.
- ↑ It was originally connected to Tai Po Road - Tai Wai, but the northbound and southbound connections were severed due to the construction of the Shing Mun Tunnels and the improvement works of Tsing Sha Highway respectively.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The road signs indicate that the boundary between the Yuen Chau Tsai section and the Tai Po Kau section is located at the junction of Trackside Villas, but the geographical information map indicates that the boundary is located at Yung Yi Road.
Related Articles[]
- Castle Peak Road
- Sha Tau Kok Road