Widening of Fo Tan Road

The project involved widening the Fo Tan Road to add a traffic lane in each direction in the section between Yuen Wo Road and Kwei Tei Street.

Environmental Concern

Noise arising from the piling works affected residents along the strip of work area which was about 1.5 km long and 15 m away from Wo Che Estate. There was also not enough space to allow the erection of large-scale noise barrier. Relatively noisier percussive piling was also unavoidable at areas where the use of vibrating hammer (non-percussive) would likely damage the underground utilities. In other areas, the use of vibrating hammer was still irritating (although it is quieter) given the short distance separation.

Measures Adopted

Quiet Method - Most of the piling work near Wo Che Estate was carried out using the relatively quieter non-percussive piling method. Resilient material was put on the pile tip to reduce the impact noise from the vibrating hammer head by about 3 dB(A).

Administration - The starting time of the non-percussive piling works was rescheduled to 09:30 a.m. which is 45 minutes later than 08:45 a.m. the normal time permitted to carry out such work allowing the residents to enjoy longer quiet time.

Noise monitoring - Monitoring was conducted by an independent Environmental Team to cap the construction noise level at Leq 75 dB(A).

Observations & Achievements

Under the normal provision of the Noise Control Ordinance, a contractor is allowed to pile 3 hours a day (using drop hammer producing percussive type noise impact). In this project, the percussive piling period was reduced to 2 hours after school hours in the afternoon per day. Impact on school was thus reduced. The contractor also took positive actions to administer other noise control measures e.g. prohibiting shouting, whistling etc., to reduce the daytime construction noise.