Road Opening Works

Besides serving as carriageways for vehicles and pedestrians, roads also
accommodate various utility services, such as water and gas mains,
sewers and electricity and telephone cables. To cope with the increasing
demand for utility services and maintenance work, utility companies often
have to excavate the carriageways and footpaths to lay more pipes, cables
and ducts, and to carry out repair work. There were about 140 new road
openings on each day in 1997. Road openings are co-ordinated and
controlled by the Highways Department through a permit system, under
which utility companies are required to carry out work to a required
standard and within a time limit.

To co-ordinate work more effectively and to minimise traffic disruption,
the department holds monthly Road Opening Co-ordinating Committee
meetings with the utility companies, the police and the Transport
Department. A computerised utility management system was developed in
1997 to further improve co-ordination and minimise disturbance to road
users.

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