# Taiwan | road infrastructure • freeways



## noreplica (May 24, 2005)

Taiwan is a mountainous island with only 20% of the land habitable, which is highly concentrated on the plain corridor along the western coast.
The high speed rail started operation early this year has made the major cities on western coast to a huge urban as a whole.
And There are 3 major expressway from north to south along the western coast (no.1, 3, 61), and 12 from west to east linking the coast to the inner part of the plain (no. 62~88).
As you may guess, the high density of the expressways are due to the high density of people and urbans, but the 3 major lines along the western corridor still cannot satisfiy the demand during the rush hour and vacations for taipei citizens going back to their hometowns in southern part of taiwan.










On the contrary, the eastern coast is populated by only 1 million people, and the cliffs and mountains dominate the eastern coast, which makes building expressway even more difficult.
And that's why the eastern coast preserves such an abundant range of wildlife and natural environment without any pollution.

Yesterday, I drove down to the eastern coast at midnight to wait for the sunrise from pacific ocean at Su-ao, and it took only 1 hour and a half from taipei.
Sunrise from the sea level is very rare for taiwanese people for the reason that most taiwanese live in the weastern coast, where you can only observe the sunrise form mountains.




































Highway no.9, which is not upgraded to expressway yet.









Coast along highway no.9




































fishing boats

















































































Valley in Nan-ao.









Highway no.9 in the village of eastern taiwan.




































Looking down to the harbor from the highway.



























Expressway no.5, on the way back to taipei.









Countryside od eastern taiwan through the highway fences.



























Heading for north, the direction to taipei.



























Xueshan tunnel of 12.9km, the longest highway tunnel in asia.


















Lanes of opposite direction are down under.


















Expressway no.5 through the mountain.


















Another shorter tunnel.













































Interchange to a small town.









Road sign board with the layout of the xpressway system in taipei.









Conjunction to expressway no.3









Expressway no.3









Almost there.









Conjunction to expressway no.3A


















On the 3A, driving down to the taipei basin.


















The skyscraper as an indicator of our approaching to the city.









To the end.



























Here we are, back to Taipei.



























Back to home!!










Route map for this journey.


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## Billpa (Feb 26, 2006)

Very nice looking motorways. Certainly can see some US influence with the letter-font, green signage and the yellow center lines.


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## Pangu (Apr 20, 2004)

Billpa said:


> Very nice looking motorways. Certainly can see some US influence with the letter-font, green signage and the yellow center lines.


Isn't it like that in most countries though?


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## cold (Nov 14, 2005)

Why do Taiwan have English on their sign for? Is there a lots of English speaking people traveling to Taiwan? You won't see western country having Chinese or other people language on their sign. :lol:


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## Billpa (Feb 26, 2006)

Pangu said:


> Isn't it like that in most countries though?


No it's not...have a look around this forum and you'll see most of Europe has a different font, uses blue signs and uses only white lines for standard striping purposes.  
That's one of the reasons the Tawain signage stood out- kinda looks familiar in a way.


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## KB (Feb 22, 2006)

Pangu said:


> Isn't it like that in most countries though?


Yes it is...most country use that signage. I dont think it has anything to do with US.


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## KB (Feb 22, 2006)

Btw, Taiwan's got good looking highways with scenic views too. :happy:


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## noreplica (May 24, 2005)

cold said:


> Why do Taiwan have English on their sign for? Is there a lots of English speaking people traveling to Taiwan? You won't see western country having Chinese or other people language on their sign. :lol:


That's a very weird question that you ask, but easy to answer.
English is an international langauge not just for people from USA, UK, or Australia to understand, it's for any foreigner who doesn't understand chinese characters to have a clue where they are.


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## noreplica (May 24, 2005)

Billpa said:


> No it's not...have a look around this forum and you'll see most of Europe has a different font, uses blue signs and uses only white lines for standard striping purposes.
> That's one of the reasons the Tawain signage stood out- kinda looks familiar in a way.


I personally prefer the yellow line on the road for the sign of different directions of traffic, because you can simply be aware of the cars coming from opposite direction.
Yellow for different directions, white for the same.


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## Billpa (Feb 26, 2006)

noreplica said:


> I personally prefer the yellow line on the road for the sign of different directions of traffic, because you can simply be aware of the cars coming from opposite direction.
> Yellow for different directions, white for the same.


I agree. Especially if you're driving in an unfamiliar area, it's a nice reassurance that you're where you should be.


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## DragonHRuffy (Aug 10, 2005)

more more more


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## SungIEman (Jul 25, 2004)

That has got to be the most common scenery all over east asian coastal cities. The east asian-ness just simply... pops out and hits you square in the face. There's the mountan range, there's the ocean, there's the abundant greenery, and then there's the city with tons of man-made land reclamation structures, and oh look...! There's the camera man hiding behind the bushes on top of a hill snapping pictures of us! *puts up the peace/victory sign*

I swear... east asian has got to be one of the most generic people ever. (I don't care if i'll get owned for saying this... because I'm asian... *puts up the victory sign*)

whipped out a few pictures just to prove my point.

Japan









Korea









And for those who are not familiar with asian culture, here's an example of victory/peace sign


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## noreplica (May 24, 2005)

SungIEman said:


> That has got to be the most common scenery all over east asian coastal cities. The east asian-ness just simply... pops out and hits you square in the face. There's the mountan range, there's the ocean, there's the abundant greenery, and then there's the city with tons of man-made land reclamation structures, and oh look...! There's the camera man hiding behind the bushes on top of a hill snapping pictures of us! *puts up the peace/victory sign*
> 
> I swear... east asian has got to be one of the most generic people ever. (I don't care if i'll get owned for saying this... because I'm asian... *puts up the victory sign*)
> 
> ...


Haha, thats a funny comparison.
I found that taiwan, korea, and japan resemble each other on lots of aspect, like geographic features, urban features, and the way of living...
I went to korea several yrs ago, and seoul is just like another taipei to me, except for the korean characters on the street banner.


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## AUchamps (Apr 26, 2007)

Here you guys go: http://www.planetvids.com/html/Azn-Pride.html


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## cold (Nov 14, 2005)

noreplica said:


> That's a very weird question that you ask, but easy to answer.
> English is an international langauge not just for people from USA, UK, or Australia to understand, it's for any foreigner who doesn't understand chinese characters to have a clue where they are.


no is not..English is not consider an international language(There are no such thing as international language). I believe Japaneses visited Taiwan more than English speaking countries.

Ever been to France or Germany? NO English sign like Taiwan or most Asian country. More English speaking people visited Germany and France than Taiwan.


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## noreplica (May 24, 2005)

cold said:


> no is not..English is not consider an international language(There are no such thing as international language). I believe Japaneses visited Taiwan more than English speaking countries.
> 
> Ever been to France or Germany? NO English sign like Taiwan or most Asian country. More English speaking people visited Germany and France than Taiwan.


Japanese use the same character system as Chinese, so we don't have to put "Japanese characters" on, and Japanese can recognize the "Kanji" without any problem. 
It's just a problem of different character system, not the problem of different languges.
Like in France, you don't have to learn french but you can still recognize the french letter, and you know where you are even you don't really know what the name really means.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

noreplica said:


> That's a very weird question that you ask, but easy to answer.
> English is an international langauge not just for people from USA, UK, or Australia to understand, it's for any foreigner who doesn't understand chinese characters to have a clue where they are.


It has been a standard for Asian highway signs to use both English and the language of their respective country.


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## FM 2258 (Jan 24, 2004)

That was beautiful. I love how the highways are setup and their signage.


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## badguy2000 (Mar 1, 2007)

> Xueshan tunnel of 12.9km, the longest highway tunnel in asia.


well, I am sure that the title should be taken by mainland China long ago..


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## badguy2000 (Mar 1, 2007)

badguy2000 said:


> [qoute]Xueshan tunnel of 12.9km, the longest highway tunnel in asia.


well, I am sure that the title should be taken by mainland China long ago..[/quote]


the current longest tunnel in the world should be Zhongnanshan tunnel,18.2 KM long in mainland China.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

The second deck of the Freeway 1 (Taipei - Zhongli) will be completed in February 2013. A part is already open to traffic.


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## robhood (Aug 6, 2009)




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## Rebasepoiss (Jan 6, 2007)

Holy cow! That looks like Suburbanist's heaven. Why is it all elevated?


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

I don't know for sure. Both the elevated structure and the mainline expressway are tolled. And it doesn't save much - if any - space compared to a conventional widening. The viaducts are 40 kilometers long.


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## asahi (Dec 28, 2007)

Yeah, when I was living in Taipei, I always wondered why the heck did they decide to build an elevated expressway. As Chris pointed out, this doesn't really save any space at all.
But could it be less noisy for housholds along the route?


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## robhood (Aug 6, 2009)

Airport to Taipei city, TAIWAN


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## robhood (Aug 6, 2009)

Jianguo Expressway


建國高架橋|Jianguo Expressway by Otori Jin, on Flickr


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Here's another view of the elevated structure along Highway 1 south of Taipei.


HIGHWAY NO.1 - TAIWAN by mambo1935, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

Wed, Mar 20, 2013 
*Center develops earthquake sensors for use on bridges*
Taipei Times

The National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering yesterday announced that it has developed the nation’s first real-time fiber monitoring system capable of sending out a warning if it detects abnormal geological behavior around bridges.

There are more than 28,000 bridges across the nation and millions of people use them each day. This results in a high rate of deadly accidents on bridges that have been damaged by natural disasters, the center said, citing the 921 Earthquake in 2000, which destroyed more than 100 bridges in central Taiwan, and the collapse of the Shuangyuan Bridge (雙園大橋) in Greater Kaohsiung during Typhoon Morakot in 2009.

Lee Cheng-kuang (李政寬), an associate researcher at the center, said that people patroling bridges during natural disasters is difficult and unsafe, but is the primary monitoring method. Some of the country’s newer bridges are equipped with electronic monitoring devices, but they only have partial coverage because they are very costly to install and maintain.

The center’s new monitoring system is capable of sending data about a bridge’s stability through a computer network, allowing administrators to be updated in real time and enabling them to direct traffic signals to warn pedestrians and drivers of any danger.

“The best feature of the new system is that between 30 and 40 sensors can be installed on one fiber cable, meaning that the system can stretch over almost an entire bridge and so monitor every dilatation joint,” he said, adding that the system is highly accurate and less expensive to maintain.

The mechanism is also highly versatile and can be applied on different types of bridges or overhead roads.

For example, the Dazhi Bridge in Taipei would require just six fiber cables to monitor its 43 critical points, the center said, adding that the system is now being tested on the Dazhi Bridge and may be also be installed on the high-speed railway and MRT lines.


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## tien787 (Jan 27, 2006)

Rebasepoiss said:


> Why is it all elevated?


Actually it goes to ground level at Chungli. This extension was mostly meant to provide fast track connection between Taipei and Taoyuan airport (they have deliberate high occupancy vehicle line on it for that purpose too) and also shorten the commuting time for people traveling further south. There are many intersections on the north portion of highway No. 1 and during rush hours the main traffic slows down to a standstill on most of them. There are much less intersections on the newly built extension (actually only at highway No. 2 and Chungli), building it almost entirely elevated might have been the less complex way to bypass all existing intersections in between.


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## CairnsTony (Nov 15, 2009)

ChrisZwolle said:


> The second deck of the Freeway 1 (Taipei - Zhongli) will be completed in February 2013. A part is already open to traffic.


I was there in May 2012 and was wondering whether it was an elevated road or railway they were building. It's unbelievably high up close; unnecessarily so I thought and visually very intrusive.

Has there been any mention in this thread yet of the landslip problems on Taiwan's mountain roads? I remember seeing them in a number of places in the mountains including a huge one near Beidong YuShan. When these occur, whole hillsides give way and take any road in the way with them. Taiwan ends up spending a lot of money just clearing and repairing the damage.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Taiwanese media report the remaining stretch of elevated lanes along Freeway 1 will open on April 20.


五楊高架 by dunhill_felling, on Flickr


Untitled by aisiterucat, on Flickr


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Google also pushed out some recent imagery of the area of the elevated lanes.

This imagery shows the viaducts briefly touch down at ground level to let traffic merge. This is located near Zhongli and provide a break of 2 kilometers in the elevated structure.

On the other hand, the viaducts do not start at Wugu, but actually appear to be merging with the older viaducts above Freeway 1 in Taipei, which would bring the total length of the viaducts to 35 and 12 kilometers. However, Taipei itself has no recent imagery to confirm this, but it's confirmed the viaducts do extend further east than the Wugu toll plaza. 

Some explanatory imagery:

1. Proof that the elevated lanes do extend east of the Wugu toll plaza (center).









2. The elevated lanes briefly touch down here at Zhongli.









3. They begin again about 2 kilometers south.


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## ChrisZwolle (May 7, 2006)

Very cool sight.


2013.04.21 台北 / 五楊高架 by MaxChu, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

The elevated highway is supposed to be an extension to relieve congestion, especially between Taoyuan airport and Taipei.


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## Blackraven (Jan 19, 2006)

Do the elevated highways (or 'skyway') have higher toll compared to ground level road?


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## asahi (Dec 28, 2007)

^^ As far as I know there isn't any toll plaza along the elevated part. If you go from the South you'll just have to pay at the Yangmei toll plaza just as you would if you decided to take the old route.

I might be wrong though


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## tien787 (Jan 27, 2006)

^^That is correct, both Taishan and Yangmei tall stations are at ground level and serve the entry/exit points of the elevated sections of the highway.

By the way the traffic during rush hours improved significantly since its entry into service last weekend.


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## Blackraven (Jan 19, 2006)

Ah okay

But how will the construction costs of those elevated expressways be recovered then? 

What incentive is there to use the elevated expressway over the one that is at ground level?

Are there any pros and cons between either driving on ground level versus driving on the elevated expressway? (and vice-versa)?


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## tien787 (Jan 27, 2006)

There are only two interchanges for the elevated section between these two tall stations, one at highway no. 2 and one at Chungli. All people who travel between Taipei and Yangmei (or further south) will be better off if they drive on the elevated road because they will, in such case, avoid the congested traffic that forms around the interchanges at Linko, Nankan, Taoyuan (highway No. 2), Neili, Chungli and Pingzhen.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Portion of Cross-Island Highway reopens after overnight rockslide*
_Excerpt_

Taipei, May 23 (CNA) A portion of Taiwan's Central Cross-Island Highway reopened to traffic Saturday morning after workers cleared an overnight rockslide caused by the torrential rains that hit Taiwan Friday.

Debris from the rockslide, which occurred at around 1 a.m. Saturday and cut off traffic in both directions in the Lileng area of Taichung, was removed by maintenance crews early Saturday, allowing traffic to resume at 9:25 a.m., the Directorate General of Highways said in a press release.

Meanwhile, a 5:40 a.m. rockfall involving a three-tonne boulder briefly closed a stretch of the coastal Huhai Road near the Waimushan area of Keelung City, before being cleared and reopened to traffic at 8:20 a.m., city officials told CNA.

More : Portion of Cross-Island Highway reopens after overnight rockslide - Focus Taiwan


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## belerophon (Nov 16, 2014)

Why does Taiwan have no international sign for the plates in this thread like RC? Is this forum in debt to Beijing?


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## Slagathor (Jul 29, 2007)

What plates? I don't understand the question.


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## Eurogue (Feb 9, 2010)

Slagathor said:


> belerophon said:
> 
> 
> > Why does Taiwan have no international sign for the plates in this thread like RC?
> ...


I think he means country codes, as used on some license plates and originally on oval stickers, now rarely seen: International vehicle registration code - Wikipedia

Most road infrastructure topic titles follow a certain pattern, like: 
[D] Germany | road infrastructure • Deutsche Autobahnen
[H] Hungary | road infrastructure • Magyar utak
[MAL] Malaysia | road infrastructure • Lebuh raya

The appropriate code for Taiwan would be "RC" (for "Republic of China").

Incidentally, China does not have a code allocated as it's not a party to the 1949 and 1968 conventions on road traffic. The forum topic has "CHN" but that's only being used through a recent regional agreement with some of China's neighboring countries (not all): 
[CHN] China | road infrastructure • 中国高速

This system is obsolete and suffers from some issues. It's still being used on European car plates, which is difficult to change, but personally I think the forum could just use ISO 3166 two-letter codes (Wikipedia) instead, which also have the benefit of not being specific to road infrastructure. Some codes like "CH" or "NL" already overlap.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

I wasn't even sure where those codes came from. I had thought it was about license plates. The old car plates in Taiwan actually said "Taiwan Province" but the new ones have that removed.


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## Eurogue (Feb 9, 2010)

hkskyline said:


> I wasn't even sure where those codes came from. I had thought it was about license plates. The old car plates in Taiwan actually said "Taiwan Province" but the new ones have that removed.


 Most had "Taiwan Province" but there were also: "Taipei City," "Kaohsiung City" (the only two "special municipalities" at the time), "Kinmen County" and "Lienchang County" (outlying islands), depending on where the plates were issued, based on internal administrative divisions. But that was in Chinese only, so not really suitable for international use, and after many complaints it was eventually removed. New plates no longer have it for over 10 years.

The sticker should be separate from the plate and look like that:









I don't think many people use the "pure" variant. Arguably it's not very useful because Taiwan is an island, and you can't just take a ferry with your car to another country. More people use novelty versions with flag as the background, etc. Some also put a foreign sticker depending on the car brand's country of origin: so if they drive a BMW they'd put a "D."

The sticker has also fallen out of use in Europe since practically all new car plates include the country code. It can mostly be seen either on some really old cars or as a novelty item ("DDR" - East Germany, where the car was made):









And as far as I remember the US, Canada and Mexico have some agreement that makes the stickers not required there either.


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## Penn's Woods (Apr 8, 2010)

Eurogue said:


> Most had "Taiwan Province" but there were also: "Taipei City," "Kaohsiung City" (the only two "special municipalities" at the time), "Kinmen County" and "Lienchang County" (outlying islands), depending on where the plates were issued, based on internal administrative divisions. But that was in Chinese only, so not really suitable for international use, and after many complaints it was eventually removed. New plates no longer have it for over 10 years.
> 
> The sticker should be separate from the plate and look like that:
> 
> ...


All North American jurisdictions include the name of the state, province, or whatever on the plate, or at least an abbreviation. So there’s no need for the codes. When I was a kid - say the 1970s and 80s, those of us who knew them knew them from Europe (or elsewhere overseas), or you could sometimes see them on cars whose owners had gone to Europe to pick them up and this had the car registered in Europe for a time. You know, a BMW with a German plate (maybe the oval version) hiding under the one that counts, and an oval sticker with a D. It was a little bit of a status symbol.
More recently, they’ve started to appear with things like the abbreviation of your favorite vacation spot. “CC” for Cape Cod, that sort of thing. Because they’re known but not actually functional, they can be used as decoration like that. 
This is the first time I’ve been in the Taiwan thread, probably; the SSC app shows the most recent picture in each thread in the list of threads, so the DDR with an NL next to it caught my eye.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

IMG_8500SAS by JLC_photography, on Flickr


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## Eurogue (Feb 9, 2010)

_(Last off-topic post in the thread, I promise.)_



Penn's Woods said:


> All North American jurisdictions include the name of the state, province, or whatever on the plate, or at least an abbreviation. So there’s no need for the codes. When I was a kid - say the 1970s and 80s, those of us who knew them knew them from Europe (or elsewhere overseas)


 Stickers must have been in use in the US as well sometime earlier. I recently saw this archive video of several Chevrolet Corvair cars being driven to Panama along the Pan-American Highway and they all did have "USA" stickers on them. The video is from the early 1960s:








Source: YouTube (can be seen at 2:17).

Or maybe even then the stickers were needed only because they drove farther south?

For comparison, in this documentary made just recently about people buying totaled cars in the US and driving them to Guatemala to sell at a profit, there are lots of cars shown at border crossings, and nobody seems to bother with any stickers at all:


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## Penn's Woods (Apr 8, 2010)

Eurogue said:


> _(Last off-topic post in the thread, I promise.)_
> 
> Stickers must have been in use in the US as well sometime earlier. I recently saw this archive video of several Chevrolet Corvair cars being driven to Panama along the Pan-American Highway and they all did have "USA" stickers on them. The video is from the early 1960s:
> 
> ...


If they’d been in general use at any time since about 1970, I’d remember it. And I haven’t seen them on films or TV farther back. I assume it’s because they were traveling beyond Mexico. (Although I didn’t think they were in use anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. I saw a Venezuelan plate in Philadelphia once; I don’t think it had a sticker, but it said “Venezuela” on it....


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

IMG_4385-2-1 by 吳承浩, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

傍晚雨後的埔里 by 毛森 郭, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

高雄斜張橋 by 譯霆 蔡, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

Aerial view of the paddy field in rural Taiwan 宜蘭壯圍彩繪稻田 by Daniel M Shih, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

楠梓百慕達閃電夜 by 佐佐木 健介, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

DJI_0118s by Tom Juan, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

Central Cross Island Highway - Taiwan by nils.finger, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

07042020-TaipieStream18 by ron Pan, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

DSC_3749_Natural by brook1979, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

IMG_8644_A1SS by JLC_photography, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Driver in deadly Suhua Highway bus crash sentenced to 1.5 years *
_Excerpt_ 

Taipei, Dec. 3 (CNA) The driver of a tour bus that crashed into an embankment on the Suhua Highway that left six dead earlier this year was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison on Friday.

In its verdict, the Yilan District Court found Yu Chih-hao (游志豪) guilty of negligent homicide for the accident on March 16 that also resulted in 39 injured. However, a relatively lenient sentencing was issued after taking into consideration his efforts to negotiate with the victims or their families about compensation, the court said. 

While Yu had claimed in his defense that the brakes on the bus were not working, an investigation found that the three-year-old vehicle had passed its latest routine inspection in January, with its brake, gear, and clutch systems functioning normally at the time of the accident.

More : Driver in deadly Suhua Highway bus crash sentenced to 1.5 years - Focus Taiwan


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

* One killed, three hospitalized in 9-vehicle freeway pile-up *
_Excerpt_ 

Kaohsiung, Dec. 29 (CNA) One person was killed and three hospitalized after a pile-up involving nine vehicles on a southbound section of National Freeway No. 1, police said Wednesday.

The nine-vehicle crash occurred at around 10 a.m. on the southbound section of the freeway at the 373.1 kilometer marker, leaving four motorists injured who were rushed to hospitals, according to police.

One of the injured, a 47-year-old man surnamed Wu (吳), suffered from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), meaning he stopped breathing and had no heartbeat before arriving at the hospital.

More : One killed, three hospitalized in 9-vehicle freeway pile-up - Focus Taiwan


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

* 1 dead, several injured in car crashes on New Year's Eve*
_Excerpt_

Taipei, Dec. 31 (CNA) One person was killed and several others were injured in multiple car crashes on Taiwan's freeways and other major roadways on Friday as the three-day New Year's holiday weekend began.

A car crash between a trailer and a truck occurred at around 1 a.m. on a southbound section of Freeway No. 1 near Chiayi County, leaving the trailer's driver dead and two others slightly injured, according to the police.

The trailer spun off the freeway and rolled over down an adjacent hill, while the truck was sent careening into an opposite lane, leading to traffic jams of up to two kilometers in both directions.

There were also multiple crashes in the morning on the same freeway near Tainan and Kaohsiung, leaving two slightly injured, the police said.

On the coastal highway connecting Hualien and Taitung in eastern Taiwan, a four-car pileup occurred in the morning, leaving two with minor injuries.

More : 1 dead, several injured in car crashes on New Year's Eve - Focus Taiwan


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

* Taipei Freeway Marathon to return, embraces 'Face Equality' *
_Excerpt_ 

Taipei, Jan. 6 (CNA) The annual Taipei Freeway Marathon is slated to return on March 13 and will promote "Face Equality" by advocating for awareness and acceptance of people with physical disfigurements such as burn victims, after the event was canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Taipei Freeway Marathon, held on the Wugu-Xizhi section of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway, also known as National Freeway No. 1, includes a full marathon of 42.195km, a half-marathon of 21.0975km, 10km and 3km races, according to the organizers Chinese Taipei Road Running Association and Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation.

The idea of "Face Equality" is a movement to spread awareness that sufferers of physical disfigurement, such as burn victims, deserve the same respect and acceptance as other people in society, in an effort to counter the bullying and harassment many receive, according to the foundation.

More : Taipei Freeway Marathon to return, embraces 'Face Equality' - Focus Taiwan


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

the highest highway in Taiwan by Jinhua Zheng, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

台中空拍｜Mavic 3 by 里卡豆 Ricardo, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

* Heavy traffic predicted on Taiwan's freeways at end of long weekend*
_Excerpt_ 

Taipei, Feb. 28 (CNA) Heavy traffic has been predicted on freeways across Taiwan on Monday as people return home on the last day of the three-day 228 long weekend.

As of 9:30 a.m. Monday, cars on freeways across the country have been travelling at an average speed of 80 kilometers per hour, except for a northbound section of National Freeway No. 5, according to the Freeway Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.

The section between the Toucheng Interchange in Yilan County and the Pinglin Interchange in New Taipei saw cars moving at an average speed of under 40 km/h, with vehicle speed on certain parts of the route traveling as slow as under 20 km/h.

More : Heavy traffic predicted on Taiwan's freeways at end of long weekend - Focus Taiwan


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

* Sales of freeway service areas drop 17% last year *
Taipei Times _Excerpt_
Mar 2, 2022

The sales revenue of the nation’s 15 freeway service areas last year dropped about 17 percent as a spike in locally COVID-19 transmitted cases affected travel, the Freeway Bureau said yesterday.

The surge in domestic cases led the Central Epidemic Command Center to raise the COVID-19 alert nationwide to level 3 in the middle of May last year. The alert lasted until July 27.

Under the level 3 alert, people were banned from dining in at restaurants, and shopping areas and food courts in the freeway service areas were closed during the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday, which was unprecedented, the bureau said.

More : Sales of freeway service areas drop 17% last year - Taipei Times


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

* Freeway closes in part for butterflies *
Taipei Times _Excerpt_
Mar 16, 2022 

The Freeway Bureau yesterday temporarily closed the Formosa Freeway’s (Freeway No. 3) outer lane and shoulder in Yunlin County after detecting a massive migration of purple crow butterflies.

The number of purple crow butterflies flying across the freeway section in the county’s Linnei Township (林內) reached 250 per minute at about 9am, Taiwan Purple Crow Butterfly Ecological Preservation Association deputy chairman Chen Jui-hsiang (陳瑞祥) said, adding that the bureau closed the outer lane and shoulder in the section (251K to 253K milestone) at 9:20am.

The maximum number of purple crow butterflies recorded yesterday morning exceeded 687 per minute, the association said.

More : Freeway closes in part for butterflies - Taipei Times


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

* One injury, road damage, power cut reported after strong earthquake *
_Excerpt_ 

Taipei, March 23 (CNA) A magnitude-6.6 earthquake that struck off the coast of Hualien County early Wednesday has left one person injured, while damaging several roads along the east coast and causing a localized power outage in the south.

The temblor, which occurred at 1:41 a.m. and was centered about 62.6 kilometers south of Hualien County Hall, was followed by a series of over 20 quakes with magnitudes ranging from 4.7 to 5.8, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

...

Meanwhile, an expansion of a bridge under construction on Provincial Highway 9 in Yuli Township, Hualien, collapsed during the quake, while the existing portion of the bridge has been closed pending a safety inspection.

Provincial Highway 30 in Taitung was also closed near its 32.5-kilometer marker due to a cracked pavement, authorities said, adding that they expected to reopen it to traffic before 5 p.m.

On Provincial Highway 11, fallen rocks and debris were reported in a number of areas in Changbin and Donghe townships in Taitung, including a 1.8-meter boulder weighing an estimated 10 metric tons, which fell onto the road near Yongfu community but did not cause any injuries.

More : One injury, road damage, power cut reported after strong earthquake - Focus Taiwan


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## robhood (Aug 6, 2009)




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## robhood (Aug 6, 2009)




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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Traffic floods Southern Cross-Island Highway after fully reopening *
_Excerpt_

Taipei, May 1 (CNA) On the first day of its full reopening after 13 years, the Southern Cross-Island Highway saw heavy traffic that caused congestion at entrances to the highway as well as a tunnel located at the highway's highest elevation.

Congestion was soon reported at the entrances to the highway after it fully opened on Sunday, with lines at the highway's entrance in Meishan Village in Kaohsiung City extending for as long as five kilometers.

A traffic jam was also recorded in the entrance and exit of the Daguanshan Tunnel, which is located at the highest point of the highway, causing authorities to implement restrictions to regulate traffic.

More : https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202205010018


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Zhongbu Cross-island Highway*

DUC_7151 by Jenhom Chen, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

斜張橋 by 孟勳⁴, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

* Plum rain causes damage, road closures *
_Excerpt_ 

Taipei, May 14 (CNA) A plum rain front currently affecting Taiwan brought downpours in many parts of the country on Saturday, leading to damage and road closures, according to the authorities.

Police in New Taipei said the heavy rain caused a landslide from a 20-meter-high slope in Shiding District around 3 p.m., damaging two vehicles parking nearby. No one was injured.

Fallen rocks and unstable soil conditions were also reported in mountainous areas of Taichung and Kaohsiung, leading to precautionary road closures.

A road section connecting Guguan and Techi in Taichung City on the Central Cross-Island Highway has been closed throughout the day due to heavy rain, according to the Directorate-General of Highways (DGH).

Likewise, the Southern Cross-Island Highway will be closed off from the 93km-98.7 km mark from 8 p.m. Saturday to 5 p.m. on May 16, the DGH said.

More : Plum rain causes damage, road closures - Focus Taiwan


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

* Southern Cross-Island Highway reopens after 13 years *
_Excerpt_

Taipei, May 1 (CNA) The Southern Cross-Island Highway, which links Tainan City on the west coast to Taitung City on the east, officially reopened Sunday, after 13 years of reconstruction work since it was devastated by Typhoon Morakot in 2009.

Numerous sections of the 154-kilometer alpine road, part of Provincial Highway No. 20, have been rebuilt over the past 13 years since the storm damaged up to 140km of road and washed away 22 bridges, according to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC).

The last section, from Tienchi to Hsiangyang on the border between Kaohsiung City and Taitung County, completed safety checks last month, allowing motorists to travel the full length of the highway which winds its way through the Central Mountain Range.

More : Southern Cross-Island Highway reopens after 13 years - Focus Taiwan


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

* Hehuanshan in central Taiwan to see extra high-occupancy vehicle traffic rules during coming holiday*
Taiwan News _Excerpt_
May 31, 2022

With red-hairy azaleas blooming in the Hehuanshan (Mt. Hehuan) area in central Taiwan, the country’s highway authority is planning to enforce high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) rules to control traffic going up the mountain during the coming Dragon Boat Festival holiday from Friday to Sunday (June 3-5).

The Second Maintenance Office of the Directorate General of Highways (DGH) has come up with a plan to enforce the HOV rules requiring three people per vehicle on the section between Tsuifeng (翠峰) and Dayuling (大禹嶺) of Provincial Highway 14A, the only highway that passes through the Hehuanshan area, from 6-11 a.m. during the holiday period, Liberty Times reported.

This year’s azalea season on Hehuanshan started on April 16 and will last until June 19, according to the report. The DGH had for the first time enforced the HOV rules on the Tsuifeng-Dayuling section on weekdays and national holidays during the early period of this year’s azalea season, resulting in improved traffic in the Hehuanshan area compared to last year.

More : Hehuanshan in central Taiwan to see extra high-occupancy vehicle traffic rules during coming holiday | Taiwan News | 2022-05-31 19:28:00


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Suhua Highway sections to open to some motorbikes* 
Taipei Times _Excerpt_
June 15, 2022 

Motorbikes with an engine capacity of more than 250 cubic centimeters (CC) are soon be to allowed on the three improved sections of the Suhua Highway following a six-month trial that ended in March, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said yesterday.

“The results of the trial showed that heavy motorcycles would not disrupt traffic on the highway or compromise safety,” Wang told reporters during a visit to the Xike Railway Station (汐科) in New Taipei City yesterday morning. “I will accept the Directorate-General of Highways’ proposal of allowing heavy motorcycle riders to access these sections.”

The highway authority is also assessing whether to allow 50CC to 250CC motorcycles on the improved sections of the highway, Wang said.

More : Suhua Highway sections to open to some motorbikes - Taipei Times


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

801A6680-編輯 by 鹽味九K ( IG: iwakuma.kelvin), on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

花蓮・鹽寮海岸 ∣ Hualien-Taitung Coastal Highway by Iyhon Chiu, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

D72_8302 by brook1979, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

FUJIFILM．日常 by Frank Hsu, on Flickr


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

* Science parks in the south might face road shortage *
Taipei Times _Excerpt_
Dec 15, 2022 

A lack of infrastructure might mean that the Executive Yuan’s “S corridor” policy to promote semiconductor manufacturing in southern Taiwan could overload traffic in the area, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) said on Saturday.

The policy would link the Southern Taiwan Science Park (南部科學園區) in Tainan, and the Renwu Industrial Park (仁武產業園區), the Ciaotou Science and Technology Park (橋頭科學園區) and the Nanzih Technology Industrial Park (楠梓科技產業園區) in Kaohsiung — the four parks somewhat form an S shape on a map — with the goal to boost development of the nation’s semiconductor industry.

However, acceleration of the plan to further industrialize Kaohsiung’s Ciaotou District (橋頭) — from six years to three — has prompted concern over transportation infrastructure.

A project to extend Provincial Highway No. 39 20.8km southward to Kaohsiung’s Renwu District (仁武) is expected to cost NT$21.9 billion (US$716.11 million) and be completed by 2031.

However, the road project is expected to reach the Ministry of Transportation and Communications next month at the earliest, while the Renwu and Ciaotou parks have completion dates of 2024, so the highway extension is far behind schedule, Chiu said.

More : Science parks in the south might face road shortage - Taipei Times


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