Author: Eryk Michael Smith
Eryk Michael Smith
Eryk Michael Smith is a journalist with over a decade of experience working for local and international outlets. He is also the co-host of The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files, and co-founder of Plum Rain Press. The Kaohsiung Times is Smith's latest project, and aims to provide more southern Taiwan-centric news in English.
On Songyi Road (松藝路) in Niaosong District (鳥松區), cameras record when a vehicle enters and exits a 1.3-kilometer monitored section. If the time it takes to travel through the section shows the vehicle’s average speed was over the 50-kilometer-per-hour limit, the driver can be fined.
An international jazz lineup led by a three-time Grammy winner is set to perform at Banana in Kaohsiung on May 3, offering audiences a close-up live music experience in an intimate venue.
The Liberty Times reports that Kaohsiung has 68 road sections or intersections equipped with automated traffic enforcement systems. From January to March, the Jhongjheng 1st Road location recorded 1,883 violations, the highest in the city.
The planned extension would run 26.2 kilometers south from Zuoying Station through Kaohsiung and into Liukuaicuo (六塊厝) in Pingtung. Most of the route would be built using shield tunneling, with other sections using cut-and-cover tunnels and elevated structures.
Activists said the Kaohsiung Science Park could consume about 11.2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. They said that would be roughly equal to the amount of electricity used by Kaohsiung’s homes and businesses in 2025.
According to a press release by the city government, the first rollout was completed by the end of March, with locations for installation chosen to help reduce the digital gap between schools in different parts of the city. The city also announced plans to spend NT$776 million this year to purchase 55,000 devices, to reach a one-device-per-student ratio by 2029.
One of the most unique interactive features introduced at the temple is the “Letter to My Future Self” initiative. Visitors are invited to sit in the Dacheng Hall to reflect and write down their current thoughts, wishes, or unfinished goals.
City officials said traffic safety work remains ongoing and called for public cooperation, saying the government will continue pursuing its “4-E” strategy for improvement: Engineering, Education, Enforcement, and Encouraging public transportation.
At the center of the relocation ideas is a broader planning question: Should Kaohsiung continue operating under its current dual-administrative-center structure following the 2010 county-city merger, or use future infrastructure projects to create a more unified administrative hub?
Southern Taiwan Technology Council founding event in Tainan City on May 2
