Zhongheng highway

Zhongheng highway

Zhongheng highway is the first highway system connecting Eastern Taiwan and Western Taiwan. It is also the three major highways in Taiwan along with nanheng highway and beiheng highway. The Zhongheng highway runs through the central mountain range, which separates the east coast from the west coast of Taiwan. The terrain is quite diverse. From the flat land to the three thousand meter high Hehuan mountain, there are tunnels and river valleys in the middle. It also passes through the Taroko National Park. Taiba provincial highway is the main line of this system, and there are two branch lines of Yilan and Wushe. The highway numbers are taiqijia and tai14jia respectively.

Route

Zhongheng highway is the first one that runs through the steep central mountains of Taiwan. It connects the east coast with the west coast. It is often referred to as Zhongheng highway. Its full name is also called east-west highway or central highway. It is also listed as the three major highways in Taiwan with nanheng and beiheng. The road passes through a wide range of terrain, from sea level to more than 3000 meters of Hehuan mountain area, with tunnels, river valleys, etc. dug in the middle, and also passing through Taroko National Park. The main line of this system is provincial highway No.8 line.

The Zhongheng highway starts from tailuge, Hualien County in the East and ends at Dongshi Town, Taichung County in the West. It runs through the magnificent central mountains of Taiwan, winding for nearly 300 kilometers.

Many road sections are formed by cutting the wall near the deep, and connected by tunnels, culverts and bridges. Because they are located in the active geological zone, they are often troubled by landslides and rockfalls, so they are regarded as a life and death danger by the drivers on the island.

Two routes are designed for the main line of Zhongheng highway from Guguan to Deji reservoir. The Taiba line is called Qingshan line, and the Taiba line is called Qingshan line (both of which were closed due to the 921 Jiji earthquake. See the following for details).

The road starts from Dongshi in the west, passes through bailing, Lishan and Dayuling, and then climbs all the way up to Taihu Pavilion in Hualien along Liwu River, passing Guanyuan, Ci'en, luoshao and Tianxiang. The total length of this main line is 190.830 km, that is, the Taiba highway.

In addition to the main line, there are Yilan branch line and Wushe branch line on Zhongheng highway. The Yilan branch line, No. taiqijia line, starts from Lishan to the north, passes through Wuling farm in the central mountains, and finally connects with beiheng highway to Yilan, with a total length of about 111.7 km. As for the Wushe branch line, it is 41.719 km long, which is the highway of line 14-A in Taiwan. Starting from the vicinity of Wushe on the 14th line of Taiwan, it connects Dayuling via Yuanfeng, Qingjing farm and Kunyang, and then returns to the main line of Zhongheng highway beside Liwu stream.

history

Zhongheng's history began in 1914. It used to be the road of Lifan during the Japanese rule period. In 1935, it completed the road from Puli and Wushe to Huihuan mountain, leading to tailuge and Hualien. It was named "hehuanyue road" (hehuanyueling Road). The section from hehuanyakou (Dayuling) to tailuge is the east section of Zhongheng highway. The section from Wushe to hehuanyakou (Dayuling) is Jintai 14a line. Most of the western section of the main line of Zhongheng highway overlaps with the route of "dajiaxi guard road".

Taiwan island is long from north to South and narrow from east to west. The central mountains run through the north and south, blocking the East and West. In the early years, in order to open up the East-West passage of Taiwan, the Taiwan Provincial Highway Bureau had a plan to cross Taiwan and build roads through mountains since 1950, and invited the exploration teams from the United States and Japan to help with the exploration. Taiwan's central mountains are located in the orogenic belt where the Western Pacific plate converges. The geological structure is complex and the terrain is steep. The next year, the Japanese exploration team conducted another exploration, and the conclusion was that it took at least seven years to complete.

On July 7, 1956, the "General Office of cross highway engineering" was set up by Taiwan Provincial Highway Bureau to take charge of road opening, planning, construction, paving and other engineering matters. The commencement ceremony was held at the East and West ends, and was presided over by Yu Hongjun, then president of the Executive Yuan. Jiang Jingguo, who was also in charge of acting chairman at that time, was also invited to participate in the ceremony. The project mobilized more than 10000 veterans.

The Zhongheng highway was opened to traffic on May 9, 1960. The whole project took three years, nine months, 18 days and cost NT $430 million. However, after the completion of the Zhongheng road has never been peaceful. Taiwan's "9.21" earthquake, which occurred in 1999, was a great disaster to the Zhongheng highway. The west section of Zhongheng highway, which was not far from the epicenter of the earthquake, was completely cut off. Although it was repaired with all efforts, the section from Lishan to Guguan in the middle and rear section was still impassable.

After the construction of Zhongheng highway, due to typhoon, earthquake and other weather effects, many accidents occurred. The first major death occurred in October 1957. Due to an earthquake in the early morning, Jin Heng, an engineer of the Highway Bureau, was hit by falling rocks in the earthquake and died in the valley. At that time, there was no sophisticated and advanced engineering equipment, so the main tools of the workers were pickaxes and explosives. Many workers were injured because of improper control of explosives. Later, there were many fatal accidents. According to statistics, 212 people died in engineering accidents and natural disasters, and 702 people were injured. On average, more than one person died per kilometer.

Before the opening of the road, the east section of Zhongheng was once known as the "gold producing road", the main purpose of which was to become the traffic road for liwuxi placer gold mining. The west section of Zhongheng is planned together with the "dajiaxi hydropower project" to open the way. At the same time, Deji reservoir in the upper reaches of dajiaxi is also under planning and construction, and Zhongheng also serves as the engineering road. In 1956, it was planned to open up the middle section of the road and use it as a transportation road for the veterans to go up the mountain to build farm orchards. However, the 20 km road from Taroko to Tianxiang has to pass through cliffs and hard marble, so it is very hard to open. There are many bridges and tunnels in this section of road, which will become the main landscape of Zhongheng in the future.

The completion date of the project is half a year earlier than scheduled. The whole project takes three years, nine months and 18 days, and costs about NT $430 million. The opening ceremony was held by Vice President Chen Cheng at that time (see the written congratulation to the opening ceremony of the cross highway). It was opened to traffic on May 9, 1960.

Opening up organs and personnel

At that time, the government was short of funds, so the main funding came from the United States. At that time, the organization that led and planned the excavation had gathered the American aid Utilization Committee of the Executive Yuan, the China Rural Rehabilitation Joint Committee, the Ministry of economic affairs, the Department of construction, the Department of agriculture and forestry of the Taiwan provincial government, the transportation department, the Highway Bureau (now the General Administration of highways) and other relevant organizations to discuss relevant issues. Finally, because the main excavation manpower came from the officers and soldiers of the Council, it was finally decided that the council would take the lead and formally set up To organize the "trans highway construction and Development Committee".

At that time, Jiang Jingguo, chairman of the Advisory Committee, once said the purpose of developing Zhongheng highway: 1. To meet the needs of national defense, open up the central mountains and build a convenient transportation line across the East and west of Taiwan. 2. To coordinate with the national economic construction and facilitate the development of mountain resources. 3. The demobilized officers and soldiers will be resettled for employment.

At that time, in addition to national defense, economic factors were also very important. The Ministry of economic affairs has also intervened in supporting the "highway engineering office and economic planning office" set up under the trans highway construction and Development Committee, and put forward the investigation report on the available economic resources along the Zhongheng highway, explaining in detail that the opening of Zhongheng highway can promote agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, sericulture, mining, water conservancy, irrigation, etc. These resource survey reports are also helpful for the government to settle down the decommissioned officers and soldiers.

In addition, one of the key reasons was that the demobilized officers and soldiers were resettled and transferred to the road digging business. From many aspects, it can be seen that it was an important consideration at that time to take advantage of the road digging business and properly assist the veterans to settle down with the completion of the road. The land along the central cross highway can be used by the government to resettle ex servicemen. Fushou mountain, Wushe, shangmeiyuan, Lianhuachi, Xibao and Wuling are mainly used to resettle ex servicemen.

Scenery

After the Zhongheng highway was opened to traffic, the landscape changed with the seasons, and the steep Taroko Gorge was excavated, which became one of the eight scenic spots in early Taiwan and the theme of many Taiwan stamps. It was also planned to enter Taroko National Park in 1986.

Several well-known scenic spots of Zhongheng highway are located in the tailuge gorge, near Tianxiang, including Changchun temple, Yanzikou, Jiuqu cave, etc. Among them, Changchun ancestral hall is set up to commemorate the road engineering personnel who died in their duty. There are 212 employees in the ancestral hall. After being damaged by a landslide in 1970, the reconstruction was completed in 1973. In 1987, it was damaged by falling rocks, and the whole ancestral hall even its base collapsed. Therefore, in 1988, a new Changchun temple was built on the left side of the original site.

Jiuqu cave is located 14.4km after the westbound tailuge of Zhongheng highway. If you want to cross a Liufang bridge, you will arrive at Jiuqu cave. There is a big character engraved here, which is "like the return of intestines, like the curve of the river, man will win the sky, open this strange game!" This is what Huang Jie wrote. Jiuqu cave is not a Jiuqu cave, but a zigzag cave. There is a double track tunnel beside the Jiuqu cave. The road of the former Jiuqu cave has been set as a landscape road, and there are guide boards and parking lots for tourists to watch on foot.

Swallow mouth, as the name suggests, is

Chinese PinYin : Zhong Heng Gong Lu