By KHT Staff – LOCATION: Zuonan Road near World Games Boulevard, Zuoying District, Kaohsiung
KAOHSIUNG — While the TSMC plant is a major economic win for Kaohsiung, the “hidden costs” are being felt by residents in the form of traffic gridlock and safety risks.
A new traffic diversion lane designed to separate heavy construction vehicles from smaller commuters has come under fire after three accidents occurred within a single hour of its opening. The dedicated lane on Zuonan Road (左楠路) was implemented to manage heavy truck traffic heading to the massive TSMC plant construction site in nearby Nanzih District.
The bypass was intended to improve safety by creating a dedicated corridor for large trucks, but local commuters report that the new configuration significantly compressed the space available for motorcycles. On January 15, the first day of the new traffic flow, three separate accidents were recorded within a 30-minute window. In the most severe incident, a 23-year-old university student hit a bollard in the dark, suffering severe facial fractures; she reportedly remains in a coma.
This space compression has become a primary point of contention, as the dedicated lane for heavy vehicles is divided by plastic bollards that were reportedly difficult to see at night. Witnesses at the scene and at local emergency rooms noted a sequence of victims arriving from the same spot, citing inadequate lighting and a lack of clear guidance as the primary causes of the collisions.
The Kaohsiung City Government has acknowledged that while the engineering followed standard procedures, the lighting was indeed insufficient. Authorities have since added warning lights to the bollards. However, the families of those injured are reportedly preparing to file for State Compensation (國賠) due to the lack of safety measures at the time of the accidents.
Sources: TVBS News via LINE TODAY: Dedicated TSMC Construction Lane Causes 3 Crashes in 30 Minutes ETtoday: University Student in Coma After Hitting TSMC Construction Bollard
