(GRAPHIC DESIGN BY ALEX TANG / CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG – A much-awaited second highway linking Hong Kong’s urban areas to its airport and Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) is set to open on Dec 27, the Hong Kong government announced on Wednesday.

About a 5-kilometer stretch of the 5.5-km Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link (TM-CLKL) Northern Connection is a subsea road tunnel connecting Tuen Mun South and the HZMB Hong Kong Port. The link's southern connection was opened to traffic in October 2018 and connects the Hong Kong Port and North Lantau on viaducts.

The journey time from Tuen Mun South to the Hong Kong International Airport will be reduced by about 20 minutes.

A spokesman for the Transport and Housing Bureau

“Upon its full commissioning, the TM-CLKL will offer a more direct route of much shorter driving distance between the Northwest New Territories and Lantau. The journey time from Tuen Mun South to the Hong Kong International Airport will be reduced by about 20 minutes,” a Transport and Housing Bureau spokesman said in a statement on Wednesday.

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According to the bureau, the use of the tunnel will be free of charge for all travelers, and at the same time, the Hong Kong government will waive the toll for the existing Lantau Link, a roadway linking Lantau Island via Tsing Ma Bridge to Tsing Yi which is a junction for other roads leading to the urban areas of Kowloon and the rest of the New Territories.

This undated photo taken in October 2020 shows a general view of the South Portal of the Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link in Hong Kong. (PHOTO / WWW.HZMB.HK)

As the second expressway from Hong Kong's urban areas to the airport, the TM-CLKL is expected to relieve the pressure on the North Lantau Highway.

“To reduce the cost incurred by the public, public transport operators and transport trades for using the government tunnel and control area concerned, the Government will effect the toll waiver for the new tunnel and the Lantau Link from the day when the Northern Connection is open to traffic,” reads the Transport and Housing Bureau spokesman's statement.

Lawmaker Leung Che-cheung of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong said in an email that after the tunnel opened, the government should push ahead with allowing more Hong Kong private vehicles to enter the Chinese mainland through HZMB.

READ MORE: Underutilized HZMB finds it difficult bridging the gap

Meeting the press on Wednesday, Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan Fan said the government is currently engaged in discussions with mainland authorities to hammer out an arrangement that enables more Hong Kong vehicles to head north via HZMB.

According to the bureau's estimate in a 2018 report, once the link opens, the Northern Connection would see 2,600 vehicles per hour during morning rush while the southern link was forecast to see 5,300 vehicles per hour.

According to the Transport Department, the Lantau Link saw a daily average of 97,427 vehicles in 2019. That number slumped to 46,364 in August with the COVID-19 pandemic raging.

Contact the writer at jefferygu@chinadailyhk.com