The Highway Bureau said plans call for the expressway to run about 22.6 kilometers from the Zuoying High Speed Rail Station (高鐵左營站) area, passing National Freeways No. 7 and No. 10 before crossing the Kaoping River and connecting with National Freeway No. 3. The four-lane route is planned to include three system interchanges and five local ramps.

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.

Aubs Takisvilainan (阿布斯), head of Kaohsiung’s Indigenous Affairs Commission, said many residents farm on the mountainside across from the bridge, growing green plums, red-fleshed plums, and high-mountain vegetables. He said the wider bridge will make it safer and easier for trucks and transport vehicles to move in and out, increasing shipping capacity and helping local industries.

One coffee grower in Majia Township (瑪家鄉), a five-time Pingtung coffee evaluation champion, uses drying grounds located on the Hengchun Peninsula. They’ve adapted a traditional local drying method that uses the strong seasonal luoshanfeng, or downslope winds to turn the cherries into coffee beans.

The project is important for many in both Tainan and Kaohsiung, as traffic on National Freeway 1 continues to worsen. A diversion plan similar to the “stacked on top” Wuyang Elevated Highway in northern Taiwan has reportedly been evaluated for the Tainan-Kaohsiung corridor but deemed unworkable, leaving the Route 61 extension as one of the main long-term alternatives for traffic relief.

County figures show donated and sponsored car and bus services had handled more than 103,000 passenger trips for this rural area of Pingtung as of the end of January this year.

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

The newly-expanded Singhai Fishing Harbor (興海漁港) in Manjhou Township (滿州鄉), will improve safety for fishing boats along Taiwan’s southeast coast and provide a more practical shelter option during typhoons, say officials.

From January through August last year, the city recorded 52 bamboo viper captures, including 27 in Sinhua alone, again accounting for more than half the total. Guanmiao had eight during the same period.