Some of you have probably noticed all the construction at the foot of Dadu Mountain outside Taichung, near Shalu. That's the new Taichung Science Park:
Since the study, 72 companies ready to invest NT$1.04 trillion (US$31.04 billion) have won approvals, among them industry leaders including AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), ProMOS Technologies Inc (茂德科技) and US-based Corning Inc.Lai said that it was Taichung's stable electricity and steady water supply which eventually convinced the authorities to proceed. Taichung boasts one of a biggest thermal power plants in Asia, while chronic water shortages have dogged science and technology parks elsewhere in the country.
[Taiwan] [Taichung]
heh heh heh. My apartment almost doubled in value since that announcement was made. My current employer plans to move in there by 2008 (the park, not my house) and my commute will get halved as a bonus.
ReplyDeleteOTOH the parking/traffic situation around here will get even worse, as impossible as that may seem given the current state of affairs.
Looks like they're widening Hsitun (Xitun, Shiteun)/You-yuan Road to accommodate the increased traffic. Half of me says, "Finally!" and the other half just sighs...
ReplyDeleteYou know the widening will be useless. Traffic will quickly expand to fill the road....
ReplyDeleteWidening will fail. Some bright spark will decide (for example) that the vegetable market is too valuable a cultural resource to move, so there will be a 100m long section that's the original width.
ReplyDeleteCongestion will be even worse.
Come to think of it, the whole of Hsitun Rd from the Chungchang up to Rueilien is plenty wide as it is. It's the stall owners and their double-parking customers that bring it down to two lanes.
Part of me hopes they'll open a spur road to the Daya intersection on freeway #3. The other part loves the relative peace of that ridge top...
At least it's pretty easy to get in there from Chungching Rd past Johnson Metal and Fritz Jou.
Actually, I'm talking about the area up the hill from the intersection with 東大路--the twisty part through the graveyard(s). They're straightening it out (I think) in addition to widening it. This will help--temporarily--but it looks like it will only go as far as the road to the Metropolitan Park. Then we're back to narrow roads full of double-parked cars...
ReplyDeleteAh, that section. Tough job, moving all those graves. Getting out of the 國際街 area onto Hsitun Rd. will be nasty in the mornings for the park employees who are willing to live in the area.
ReplyDeleteYou said it! All the access roads to that area are too narrow (1-2 lanes), houses right up to the curb, and parked cars on both sides of the street (and parking is getting worse and worse and worse). I was just telling a friend who hasn't lived in Taiwan for about 20 years about our ironically named 理想國 area...
ReplyDeleteBut I see that there are several fairly large "dormitories" for science park employees that have been going up right in the park. Don't know how many people those buildings will hold, though. Any word on this?
I lived in 理想國 in IIRC 1997/98. Even then it was getting crowded and that, plus the late night plastic burning and stray dog packs had me moving back down the hill right quick.
ReplyDeleteThe whole strip from Fengchia to Sueinan is sprouting new upmarket apartment buildings to cash in on the boom. I am sure glad I bought when I did, but I may end up moving further away and renting it out if the area gets any more crowded and noisy.