Hong Kong plans smart highway rollout in Northern Territory by 2031
Hong Kong will add nearly 170km of public roads in the Northern Territory, with smart highway elements on major routes. The first phase, including a 7.4km section of Sun Tsuen Road, is expected by 2031. The government is also updating technical guidelines for smart road management.
The Hong Kong government has outlined plans to integrate smart highway infrastructure into the development of the Northern Territory, with nearly 170km of new public roads expected. In a legislative written reply on 7 October 2026, authorities confirmed that major trunk roads in the area will be designed to smart highway standards, starting with the 24km Northern Territory Highway, whose New Tsuen section is scheduled to open by 2034, two years earlier than originally planned.
The government is prioritising smart highway elements on existing major routes, beginning with a 7.4km stretch of Sun Tsuen Road and Fulin Road (Gudong section) expansion project, which is expected to be completed by 2031. The Transport Department is updating technical guidelines for smart highway management, including criteria for introducing smart features on trunk roads and equipment requirements for various application scenarios, such as AI-based automatic incident detection systems, lane control signals and variable message signs. The updated guidelines are expected to be completed within this year.
Regarding vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology, the government said it will maintain flexibility in planning. While current autonomous vehicle development leans towards single-vehicle intelligence, the authorities will reserve sufficient space in new development areas, including the Northern Territory's wider roads and footpaths, to allow for future installation of V2X infrastructure when the technology, standards and cost-effectiveness mature.
On digital transformation of road and bridge infrastructure, the Highways Department is using building information modelling (BIM) on major projects such as the Central Kowloon Bypass (Yau Ma Tei section), the Tsing Lung Bridge on Route 11, and the Northern Territory Highway. The department has also introduced digital twin technology on the Tsing Ma Bridge for real-time structural monitoring, which will be extended to other long-span bridges including Kap Shui Mun Bridge and new bridges such as Tsing Lung Bridge. For road maintenance, AI-based road defect detection systems and laser scanning road condition assessment systems are being deployed to replace manual inspections.
A preliminary study on the digital transformation of road assets is underway, with a roadmap and short-, medium- and long-term work plans expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2027. The Transport Department is also studying the development of a traffic management platform that will integrate traffic and transport data, using big data analytics and AI to predict traffic changes, identify bottlenecks and formulate contingency plans.