The motorcycle-only lanes on the Macau-Taipa Sai Van Bridge will be temporarily closed from tomorrow until the end of this month because of a project to resurface the whole bridge, during which two lanes in each direction will remain open to traffic.
The special motorcycle lanes are slated to reopen at 3 p.m. on August 31.
The motorcycle lane from the peninsula to Taipa will first close from 10 a.m. tomorrow, while the one from Taipa to the peninsula will close from 10 a.m. on Sunday.
The resurfacing project, which is slated to be completed at the end of this month, will be carried out in phases so that the bridge can remain open, with two lanes available in each direction.
During the project, motorbike riders will have to use the same lanes as all other vehicles when crossing the bridge.
The government announced the temporary closure of Sai Van Bridge’s motorcycle lanes during a press conference yesterday. The press conference, which was held at the Transport Bureau (DSAT) Building on Estrada de D. Maria II, was hosted by Public Works Bureau (DSOP) official Wong Sio Leong, DSAT official Wu Chio Ieong, and Public Security Police (PSP) senior officer Ho Ka Kit.
Last year’s 7-day closure for replacement of expansion joints
The temporary closure that will start tomorrow comes after the bridge’s motorcycle lanes were temporarily closed for seven days in August last year to replace worn expansion joints on the lanes.
Sai Van Bridge, one of the city’s three sea-crossing bridges connecting the Macau peninsula and Taipa, opened in January 2005.
Each direction of Sai Van Bridge has three vehicular lanes, one of which has been designated for motorcycles since August 2012.
Since then, motorcycles have been barred from using the other vehicular lanes on the bridge, except for last year’s temporary closure of the motorbike lanes during which they had to use the other lanes.
The bridge’s special lanes for motorcycles have been set up to improve the safety of motorbike riders travelling between the peninsula and Taipa.
Sai Van Bridge’s motorcycle-only lanes started operating in August 2012 on a trial basis, after which the operation of the lanes became permanent in August 2016.
The bridge’s motorcycle-only lanes are on both sides of the central divider.
The government first revealed last month that it would carry out a project to resurface the whole of Sai Van Bridge. The government said at that time that the bridge has been used for over 19 years but the whole bridge had never been resurfaced.
60,000 vehicles per day
During yesterday’s press conference, Wong reaffirmed that the resurfacing of Sai Van Bridge is needed. Wong said that a daily average of 60,000 vehicles crossed the bridge in the first half of this year, adding that because of the bridge’s very busy vehicular traffic as well as the fact that Macau has been affected by extreme weather more often than before in recent years, its road surface in different locations has worn out to various degrees.
In addition, according to yesterday’s press conference, the two spurs connecting the bridge with its peninsula side near Macau Tower, each of which has two lanes, will also be resurfaced from tomorrow to August 28, during which one lane on each of the two spurs will remain open to traffic.
This photo taken from Taipa’s Ocean Gardens yesterday shows Sai Van Bridge and Macau Tower on the peninsula. – Photo: Tony Wong
