By Eryk Michael Smith/KHT Staff. Image via Rooster Lighting.
KAOHSIUNG — A Love River (愛河) pedestrian and bicycle bridge will reportedly be removed to make way for the planned Taiwan High Speed Rail (高鐵) extension to Pingtung. The plan is again highlighting public unease surrounding the project’s path through central Kaohsiung.
The bridge, known as Sieguang Bridge (斜光橋), sits above the planned tunnel route for the “Kaohsiung plan,” which would carry high-speed rail trains from THSR Zuoying Station (高鐵左營站) through Kaohsiung’s urban core before heading east to a new station at Liukuaicuo (六塊厝), a stop in Pingtung County (屏東縣) located roughly a kilometer from the Main Pingtung City Station.
The bridge has become a visible example of broader concerns among Kaohsiung residents about years of construction, tunneling, land use changes, and disruptions tied to the extension.
According to the Railway Bureau (鐵道局), the planned shield tunnel would pass directly beneath Sieguang Bridge, creating a conflict between the tunnel structure and the bridge’s pile foundations.
The bureau plans to use a “build first, demolish later” approach. A replacement bicycle bridge would first be built north of the existing bridge. Sieguang Bridge would then be removed, its foundations extracted, and tunneling work allowed to proceed.
Officials considered shifting the high-speed rail route farther north to avoid the bridge foundations, which could reduce surface and river work and lower costs. However, that option would take the line through a dense residential area and was not recommended after evaluation.
The bridge began as a temporary railway bridge built in 2009 during Kaohsiung’s railway undergrounding project. After trains were moved underground in 2018, the tracks and overhead wires were removed, and the structure was converted into a riverside landscape bridge in 2021.
Its planned removal now shows how the THSR extension is not just a regional transportation project, but a major urban construction challenge for Kaohsiung.
