Is it the end of the road for the controversial Route 10 project?

Expectations are high that Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa will shelve the much criticised Route 10 superhighway project, intend ed to connect Hong Kong with Shenzhen, when he presents his blueprint in January.

'I have no idea whether the Policy Address will tackle the issue, but I'll bet the project does not get the go-ahead,' said Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheung, Hopewell Holdings chairman and one of the chief critics of Route 10.

Democratic Party lawmaker Andrew Cheng Kar-foo said: 'I hope the Policy Address will clarify the government's stance on the project, including how the planned Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge can complement the project in the future.'

The controversial superhighway was conceived as a critical piece of infrastructure, especially its southern section, which includes link roads to the Tuen Mun highway - one of the SAR's most notorious traffic blackspots.

But it has been bitterly opposed because of the inaccurate projections in the government's Comprehensive Transport Study of 1999.

According to the study, daily traffic on the Lantau link section in 2001 would more than double to 83,000 vehicles, while volume on the parallel Tai Lam tunnel section of Route 3 would exceed 80,000 vehicles. In fact, daily volume on the two roads was less than half that by 2000.

'Route 3 already provides north-south access in the New Territories and it is under-utilised,' said Christine Loh Kung-wai, chief executive of Civic Exchange, adding it would make more sense to maximise the use of existing resources instead of building the $22 billion Route 10.