HONG KONG Jan 20 (INP): - The Highways Department announced on Friday that the road surfacing works and road facilities of the about 9.4 km long viaducts, 1 km long Scenic Hill Tunnel, and 1.6 km long at-grade roads along the east coast of the airport were successfully completed. The announcement came following the complete connection of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) Hong Kong Link Road (HKLR) on May 18, 2017. The remaining works in progress mainly include the final installation and testing of the Traffic Control and Surveillance System, as well as the final work of some ancillary facilities. To construct the HKLR in close proximity to the Hong Kong International Airport – one of the busiest airports in the world – the engineering team encountered various challenges during both the design and construction stages. Under the tight airport height restriction, the construction of the viaduct section required the use of a massive straddle carrier to construct the long-span bridge of more than 180-meter in length, in order that the viaduct could pass over the northern shore of Lantau and thus avoid touching the land in vicinity of the Sha Lo Wan archaeological site of high conservation value. Large precast modules were also extensively adopted to reduce the environmental impact due to marine in-situ concreting work. The construction of the Scenic Hill Tunnel was the most difficult and challenging construction works in the project, as the tunnel comprises two tubes passing underneath Scenic Hill, Airport Road and the Airport Express Line (AEL). Four different tunnel construction methods were adopted to cope with the different technical difficulties. Courtesy by China Daily