Tate's Cairn Tunnel to make HKeToll switch

Drivers can drive through the Tate's Cairn Tunnel without having to stop to pay tolls starting 5 am this Sunday (Nov 26) under the latest expansion of the HKeToll system. To tie in with the implementation of the electronic auto-toll system, the tunnel and its slip roads will be closed off to traffic both ways from 4 am to 5 am that day to allow the transition.

The tunnel, which links Diamond Hill with Sha Tin, will be reduced to four lanes with the HKeToll implementation, and all booths and auto toll lanes are to be done away with.

One overnight franchised bus route - N680 - traveling between Kam Ying Court and Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal in Central - will be diverted to the Lion Rock Tunnel.

Meanwhile, the Transport Department said it has issued over 810,000 vehicle tags accounting for over 99 percent of licensed vehicles in Hong Kong, of which 92 percent had opened up an HKeToll account.

The system currently collects tolls from about 430,000 vehicle trips daily at six government tunnels.