 Harcourt Road in November 2011, buildings includeBank of America Tower (Left) | |
 Interactive map of Harcourt Road | |
| Native name | 夏慤道 (Yue Chinese) |
|---|---|
| Namesake | Cecil Harcourt |
| Location | Admiralty,Hong Kong |
| East end | Gloucester Road |
| West end | Connaught Road Central |
| Harcourt Road | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 夏慤道 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 夏悫道 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Harcourt Road (Chinese: 夏慤道) is a majorhighway inAdmiralty,Hong Kong, connectingCentral withWan Chai. It starts atMurray Road, and ends atArsenal Street.[1] The road is 780 metres (approx. half a mile) in length, and carries four lanes of traffic on either side. The section of Harcourt Road running westbound betweenRodney Street andCotton Tree Drive features afrontage road.
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Following the colonisation of Hong Kong in the early 1840s, the present-day Admiralty was intended to be a military complex, with the naval base situated on the seafront, and the army barracks on the hillside. This left a rather large, elongated piece of land between the two, and the gap was filled in the 1870s in the form of theAdmiralty Dock. Prior to its construction, the then governorSir Arthur Kennedy proposed running a narrow public road through this empty stretch of land, but this was rejected by military officials on the grounds that it would compromise military secrecy.Kennedy Road in theMid-Levels was built instead.
AfterWorld War II, the naval strength of the British Empire in theFar East diminished, and the land upon which the Admiralty Dock had been built was returned to the government. The Dock finally ceased operating in November 1959, and was demolished soon after. Due to the rapid development ofCentral andWan Chai at that time, traffic congestion became a frequent problem in the area, and diverting traffic uphill toKennedy Road did not provide an adequate solution.
The solution was to build a new major thoroughfare on the landreclaimed from the demolished Admiralty Dock. The resultant Harcourt Road was built in 1961, and opened to the public that same year. It is named afterCecil Harcourt, who was thede factoGovernor of Hong Kong, following itsliberation from the Japanese in 1945, until 1946.
Within the first six months of the road's completion, 13 traffic accidents occurred on the same curve in the road. On 13 August 1962, a speed limit was introduced, stipulating that traffic mustn't exceed 35 km/h (22 mph) when passing the curve – this became the first use of speed limiting in Hong Kong.
In January 2019, theCentral–Wan Chai Bypass opened, providing a parallel expressway route to Harcourt Road,Gloucester Road,Victoria Park Road, andConnaught Road Central.[2]
The Harcourt Road Flyover at the western part of the road opened on 19 April 1966.[3] To link Harcourt Road withQueen's Road East andGarden Road, theAlbany Nullah was decked over, and a new road called Kapok Drive (now Cotton Tree Drive) was built. These flyovers and slip roads opened in the late 1960s.[4][5]
From 28 September 2014 to 11 December 2014, theUmbrella Revolution took place. The section of Harcourt Road near theAdmiralty MTR station, and theGovernment andLegislative Council Complex, transformed intoUmbrella Square; it was occupied by pro-democracy protesters for 79 days.[6]
On 12 June 2019,protests took place on Harcourt Road to oppose the extradition bill to China.[7]
| Preceded by Gloucester Road | Hong Kong Route 4 Harcourt Road | Succeeded by Connaught Road Central |
22°16′51″N114°09′49″E / 22.28085°N 114.16355°E /22.28085; 114.16355
