By KHT Staff
KAOHSIUNG — The main structure of a new pedestrian bridge linking Kaohsiung Guoling Natural Park (高雄果嶺自然公園) with Chengcing Lake (澄清湖) has been installed, bringing the city closer to creating a continuous recreational route through three major green spaces.
The bridge begins near Chengcing Lake’s Maze Garden and crosses Songyi Road (松藝路) before descending into Guoling Natural Park. It will measure about 180 meters, including a 60-meter section over the road and a 120-meter eastern approach, according to city project information. The walkway will be 3.5 meters wide.
Once associated paths are completed, the city intends the bridge to form part of a largely traffic-separated walking route connecting Shuanghu Forest Park (雙湖森林公園), Guoling Natural Park and Chengcing Lake.
A recent update from the civic page Kaohsiung Good Days said the bridge was expected to be completed by the end of 2026. City construction records previously listed Nov. 26 as the projected completion date.
That timetable represents a delay from the city’s original schedule. In November 2025, the Public Works Bureau’s New Construction Office (高雄市政府工務局新建工程處) said the bridge would open in June 2026. Reports in August later placed completion in October. The reason for the successive revisions has not been publicly detailed.
The project began construction in January with a listed budget of approximately NT$88.8 million. It is partly supported through the Water Resources Agency’s Water Environment Improvement Program.
City officials have presented the bridge primarily as a safety project. Visitors traveling between the two parks currently face Songyi Road, a busy route with limited convenient crossing options. According to figures provided by the city in 2025, the surrounding section of road recorded 96 traffic accidents over five years, including three fatalities.
The New Construction Office said an elevated crossing would separate visitors from traffic and reduce illegal road crossings. It rejected proposals for a street-level crosswalk, traffic signal and pedestrian refuge island, arguing that those measures could interrupt traffic while still requiring visitors to make a relatively long crossing.
The bridge has nevertheless faced opposition from environmental groups.
The Forest City Association (森林城市協會) said in November that the project could directly affect 37 trees, with additional vegetation potentially disturbed by construction access. Campaigners also questioned whether sufficient ecological assessment had been conducted within the Chengcing Lake drinking-water protection area and criticized an associated plan for 84 parking spaces.
The city responded that the bridge had been designed with a limited construction footprint and would use prefabricated steel sections to shorten work at the site. Trees conflicting with the structure would be transplanted within Chengcing Lake where possible, while some fruit trees would be removed, officials said. The city also said 253 trees had been planted in the scenic area since it assumed management.
The dispute reflects a broader difference over how the lake district should be developed. An elevated bridge provides a physically separated crossing but requires ramps, foundations, and structures within a wooded setting. A surface crossing would require less infrastructure, but pedestrians would continue to encounter traffic and signal delays.
Guoling Natural Park opened on the grounds of a former golf course and retains much of the site’s existing hills, ponds, mature trees and grassland. The roughly 70-hectare property has been promoted as Taiwan’s first golf course converted into a public natural park.
The bridge structure crossing Songyi Road has been installed, with approach and finishing work continuing. Photo via Kaohsiung Good Days.
