Table of Contents

11. ENVIRONMENTAL OUTCOMES and Conclusions. 11-1

11.1 Introduction. 11-1

11.2 Summary of Key Environmental Outcomes. 11-1

11.3 Principal Findings of the EIA Study. 11-10

11.4 Environmental Monitoring and Audit 11-12

11.5 Overall Conclusion. 11-12

LIST OF TABLES

Table 11-1 Summary of Key Environmental Outcomes / Benefits. 11-5

11. ENVIRONMENTAL OUTCOMES and Conclusions

11.1 Introduction

11.1.1 The Project is a designated project under Item A.8 of Part I, Schedule 2 of the EIAO: “A road or railway bridge more than 100m in length between abutments”.

11.1.2 This EIA Report included an assessment on the potential environmental impacts for the construction and operation of the Project based on the preliminary engineering design information available at this stage, and taken into consideration of the potential cumulative impacts from other concurrent projects. The assessment has been conducted, in accordance with the Study Brief No. ESB-242/2012 under the EIAO for the Project, covering the following environmental issues:

· Air Quality Impact

· Noise Impact

· Water Quality Impact

· Waste Management and Land Contamination Impact

· Landscape and Visual Impact

· Landfill Gas Hazard

· Impact on Cultural Heritage

11.1.3 Findings of this EIA Study have determined the likely nature and extent of environmental impacts predicted to arise from the construction and operation of the Project. During EIA process, specific environmental control and mitigation measures have been identified and incorporated into the planning and design of the Project in order to achieve compliance with environmental legislation and standards during both the construction and operation phases. An environmental monitoring and audit (EM&A) programme has also been developed. The Implementation Schedule of the recommended mitigation measures is presented in the Section 12. The key environmental outcomes arising from the EIA Study and the principal findings of the study are summarised in the following sections.

11.2 Summary of Key Environmental Outcomes

General

11.2.1 Major sensitive areas within the study area include residential buildings, clinics and institutional uses. With the implementation of the proposed mitigation measures, the Project would not generate adverse environmental impacts to the surrounding population and environmental sensitive receivers. A summary of the key environmental outcomes arising from the EIA Study and benefits of the environmental protection measures recommended are presented in the following sections.

Minimisation of Environmental Impacts by Options Considered

11.2.2 Comprising with other 6 alternatives options, Option 2A is considered the best road improvement option due to traffic, engineering, environmental considerations and implementation aspects, etc.

Environmental Designs Recommended

11.2.3 Noise mitigation measures such as noise barriers and low noise road surfacing have been recommended as required to reduce noise impact contributed by the proposed DP road section in this Project. The carriageway design and associated noise barriers will incorporate design features as part of mitigation measures including vertical green panels, choices of material, colour and shape.

11.2.4 Native tree species for roadside tree planting shall be adopted in order to create a coherent landscape network in the area.

Environmental Benefits of Projection/ Mitigation Measures Recommended

11.2.5 The proposed new flyover would divert some of the on-road traffic away from the nearby noise sensitive receivers at Lai King Estate, while noise barrier along the new flyover shall be adopted as needed for the compliance of corresponding EIAO requirements. In this connection, traffic noise impact due to TWR could be slightly relieved with this Project in place.

11.2.6 With the decrease of V/C ratio on SB TWR when this Project is in place, local traffic congestion problem could be resolved. In other words, the on road traffic speed would be resumed to the design speed limit instead of idling during rush hours. As a result, the overall vehicular emission would likely be reduced in the vicinity area in the future.

Key recommended mitigation measures and their associated benefits include:

Air Quality

· Implementing control measures as stipulated in the Air Pollution Control (Construction Dust) Regulation and good site practise to minimise dust generation.

· The on road traffic speed would be resumed to the design speed limit instead of idling during rush hours. As a result, the overall vehicular emission would likely be reduced in the vicinity area in the future.

Noise

· Recommended mitigation measures during construction phase include: adopting quiet construction plant, movable noise barriers, noise jackets, mufflers, limiting the number of plants operated concurrently as well as good site practices. As a result, the construction noise impact is controlled as minimal.

· Direct noise mitigation measure (DNMM) including vertical noise barrier, cantilevered noise barriers and low noise road surfacing were recommended.

· With the implementation of DNMM, traffic noise impact due to DP road would comply with noise criteria.

Water Quality

· Implementation of good site practices as stipulated in ProPECC Note PN 1/94 to control and minimise site runoff arising from general construction activities associated with the construction of the Project.

· Application of discharge licence for discharge of effluent from the construction site under the WPCO while discharge quality must meet the requirements specified in the discharge licence.

· Treatment of all run-off and wastewater generated from the works areas to satisfy all the standards listed in the Technical Memorandum under WPCO.

· Provision of minimum distance of 100m between the discharge points of construction site effluent and the existing seawater intakes.

· Use of treated effluent for other on-site activities such as dust suppression, wheel washing and general cleaning etc., to minimise water consumption and reduce the effluent discharge volume.

· Provision of properly maintained and regularly cleaned surface runoff collection system to ensure good service condition.

Waste Management and Land Contamination

· With the implementation of the proposed waste reduction, management and mitigation measures and practices associated with handling, transportation and disposal of the identified wastes arising from the Project, no adverse environmental impacts would be anticipated.

Landscape and Visual

“Construction Phase”

· Replanting of disturbed planting areas with shrubs planting will be undertaken at the earliest possible stage of the construction phase.

· Night-time lighting glare will be controlled to prevent light spillage.

· Decorative screen hoarding will be erected.

· All disturbed landscape areas during construction will be restored like-to-like following the completion of the construction phase.

“Operation Phase”

· The carriageway design and associated noise barriers will incorporate design features as part of mitigation measures including choices of material, colour and shape.

· Roadside and amenity planting will utilise flowering and colourful foliage shrubs species in creating a more pleasant landscape network in the area. Large shrubs will be planted to create visual buffers of the supporting columns.

· Enhancement of streetscape using coloured paving materials to tie with the paving theme of Kwai Chung Area.

Landfill Gas

· LFG hazard assessment is considered not necessary as the proposed project does not fall within the 250m Consultation Zone of the closed restored Gin Drinkers Bay Landfill. As such, no mitigation measures have been provided for LFG issue.

Cultural Heritage

· No adverse built heritage impact associated with the Project during both construction and operation phases would be anticipated. Therefore, no mitigation measures for cultural heritage would be required.

Estimated Population Protected from Various Environmental Impacts and Environmentally Sensitive Areas Protected

11.2.7 The study area for air quality assessments is generally covering 500m from project site boundary, and within 300m for noise and water quality impact assessment. According to the data extracted from the Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong, the size of community within the Kwai Tsing District is about 500,000, while the population size of residents identified within the 500m study area is about 50,000 according to population census data in Year 2011. Sensitive areas in the vicinity of the project including Lai King Estate, Yin Lai Court, Yuet Lai Count, Lai King Catholic Secondary School, Lingnam Dr. Chung Wing Kong Memorial Secondary School, New Kwai Fong Garden, etc.

11.2.8 With the adoption of above mentioned mitigation measures, the following conclusions have been obtained:

· Construction dust and noise impact on air and noise sensitive receivers within the assessment areas have been minimised and mitigated to acceptable levels.

· No adverse air quality impact due to the Project is anticipated during operation phase.

· Approximately 50,000 residential populations within the operational air quality assessment area will be environmental benefitted.

· About 2,900 residential, classrooms and other sensitive elements have been assessed under 300m study area if noise impact assessment. With implementation of proposed mitigation measures, no exceedance of noise criteria due to DP roads and 18 representative NSRs would be protected while 85 residential dwellings would be benefitted.

· Approximately 23,500m² of construction area would be protected during construction phase. About 4,200m² of additional road area would be protected during operation phase. In addition, one flushing water intake, two cooling water intake and one typhoon shelter within 300m from the project site would be protected during both construction and operation phases.

Key Environmental Problems Avoided

11.2.9 The optimised option has been selected for this Project and thus following environmental problems have been avoided or minimised:

· Air quality would slightly improve due to the relieving of traffic congestion on Kwai Chung Road in future.

· The proposed flyover is relatively farther away from the nearby NSRs so that noise impact to the existing NSRs would be minimised.

· The site boundary is minimised so that it would not fall into 250m consultation zone of LFG hazard assessment.

· Excavated marine sediment would be treated and reused on-site to avoid the need for off-site disposal.

· Reuse of inert C&D materials on-site as far as practicable to minimise amount of off-site disposal.

· Impacts on the adjacent landscape including LRs, LCAs and VSRs would be minimised by appropriate landscape and visual appearance designs.

11.2.10 The summary of individual technical assessments is presented as follows:

Table 11-1 Summary of Key Environmental Outcomes / Benefits

Area/Issue	Environmental Outcomes / Benefits and Mitigation Measures
The Project	Requirements: Construction of a new flyover and relocation of a footbridge are proposed including: • Introduce an additional southbound lane (a separated viaduct) on TWR and connect to the existing lane on the west side of KCR with design speed of 70 km/hr • Associated works in the following areas have been identified: (i) Existing footbridge NF303 is to be demolished and be re-provided; (ii) Existing Public Works Regional Laboratory will be affected; (iii) Existing drainage reserve zone positioned alongside TWR will be affected; (iv) Existing bus stop outside subway NS10A is to be relocated; and (v) Minor modification to the existing Kwai Chung Road involves removal of the existing planter, breaking and reinstating Kwai Chung Road with the new road marking. Benefits: • A section of the SB carriageway of TWR between KT I/C and KCR predicted would be deteriorate due to congestion occurs during peak hours in the future years, a flyover is proposed to improve the road section to cope with the future traffic growth by directing traffic flow from fast lane of SB TWR to merge the fast lane of SB KCR • The proposed new flyover would divert some of the on-road traffic away from the nearby noise sensitive receivers at Lai King Estate, while noise barrier along the new flyover shall be provided as required. In this connection, traffic noise impact due to TWR could be slightly relieved with this Project in place. • With the decrease of V/C ratio on SB TWR when this Project is in place, local traffic congestion problem could be resolved. In other words, the on road traffic speed would be resumed to the design speed limit instead of idling during rush hours. As a result, the overall vehicular emission would likely be reduced in the vicinity area in the future.
Preferred Option	Various options considered and the preferred option as the most environmentally friendly: • Comprising with other 6 alternatives options, Option 2A is preferable based on various factors including traffic, engineering, environmental considerations and implementation aspects, etc. • For the proposed scheme, Option 2A is considered the best road improvement option based on the fact that this scheme will yield the best traffic performance upon its implementation. The additional lane in this scheme is to occupy one of the segregated lanes of KCR. From results of traffic survey, there is over one full lane of capacity to receive this additional lane. With respect to the compliance on alignment deign standard, this option is an compliance on all aspects.
Construction Air Quality	Impact/Problem: • Potential air quality impacts are dust nuisance but expected minimal. Key environmental problem avoided: • Implement the Air Pollution Control (Construction Dust) Regulation and good site practice. Environmental benefits of environmental protection measures recommended: • Construction Dust impact would be minimised.
Operational Air Quality	Impact/Problem/Environmental Benefit: • No exceedance of RSP, FSP as well as NO2 hourly average concentration criterion is anticipated during operation phase. • Some ASRs would exceed annual average NO2 concentration limit in AQOs, under both “Without Project” and “With Project” scenarios. • Exceedance of annual NO2 was mainly resulted from the high background pollutants’ concentrations in this district. Marine emission rather than vehicular emission is concluded to the be major contributor to the high background level in most areas, mainly due to the pollutants emitted from the Kwai Chung Container Terminal nearby. • Comparison study concluded that some environmental benefits would be contributed by the Project due to the improvement of traffic flow and vehicles travelling speed after the implementation of the proposed Project. As a result, no adverse air quality impacts are anticipated due to the Project.
Construction Noise	Impact/Problem: • Unmitigated construction noise levels: 61 to 81 dB(A). Key environmental problem avoided: • Recommended mitigation measures: adopting quiet construction plant, movable noise barriers, noise jackets, mufflers, limiting the number of plants operated concurrently as well as good site practices. Environmental benefits of environmental protection measures recommended & Environmentally sensitive areas protected: • Under the mitigated scenario, all representative NSRs would be protected to comply with the daytime construction noise standard as set out in the EIAO-TM except two NSRs would exceed noise criteria during examination period at some months. The Contractor shall liaise with the school representative(s) to obtain the examination schedule and avoid noisy construction activities during school examination period.
Road Traffic Noise	Impact/Problem: • Unmitigated noise levels: 55 to 84 dB(A). Key environmental problem avoided: • Vertical barrier and cantilevered noise barrier have been provided for the project roads as shown in Figure 4.4A. Environmental benefits of environmental protection measures recommended & Environmentally sensitive areas protected: • Most representative NSRs cannot comply with the noise limit of 70 dB(A) for residual use, 65 dB(A) for institutional uses and 55 dB(A) for clinic due to high volume flow of existing road networks. • For the affected NSRs with residual impact, the noise contributions from the DP road to the overall noise levels would be less than 1.0 dB(A) and the DP road noise level would be below the relevant noise criteria, although the overall noise level would still exceed the relevant noise criteria. • Eligibility test shows that all the NSRs are not eligible for provision of noise insulation works. No further noise mitigation measurement is required
Construction Water Quality	Impact/Problem: • General construction activities associated with the construction of the Project could lead to site runoff. Key environmental problem avoided: • All of the recommended mitigation measures are implemented and all construction site / work area discharges comply with the TM-DSS standards. • Treated effluent would be used for other on-site activities such as dust suppression, wheel washing and general cleaning etc., Environmental benefits of environmental protection measures recommended: • The beneficial uses of the treated effluent would minimise water consumption and reduce the effluent discharge volume. • No unacceptable residual water quality impacts are expected during the construction of the proposed works.
Operational Water Quality	Impact/Problem: • Adverse water quality impacts associated with the operation of the Project are not expected at the water sensitive receivers within the study area with properly designed and maintained surface runoff collection system including silt traps and road gullies along the road alignment. Thus, there will be no residual impact associated with the operation of the Project.
Waste Management and Land Contamination	Impact/Problem: • The Project is likely to result in the generation of a variety of wastes and require the management and disposal of C&D material, C&D waste, marine sediment, chemical waste and general refuse. • The Public Works Regional Laboratory of Tsuen Wan (Laboratory) has been identified as a chemical waste producer, which is a potential contaminated land use within the project boundary. The allocatee shall be responsible for the land contamination assessment of the Laboratory Site and ensure the Laboratory Site is free from contamination at the expiry of allocation and therefore any land contamination concern arising from past activities would have been remediated prior to the construction of the works. Environmental benefits of environmental protection measures recommended: • With the implementation of the proposed waste reduction, management and mitigation measures and practices associated with handling, transportation and disposal of the identified wastes arising from the Project, no adverse environmental impacts would be anticipated.
Landscape and Visual (Construction Phase)	Impact/Problem: • Landscape Resources: - LR2 Tree Planting at Kwai Chung Road Interchange Area would expect to experience moderately adverse impacts • Landscape Character Area: - LCA 3 Residential at Lower level of Lai King Hill and LCA6 Kwai Chung Road Interchange would expect to receive slightly adverse impact. • Visual Sensitive Receivers: - R5 Lai King Estate North; O5 Lai King Catholic Secondary School would expect to receive moderately adverse impact. - R5A Lai King Estate South; R6 Yin Lai Court; R7 Highland Park; O4 Polyclinic & Special Educational Services; O6 Ever Gain Plaza; O8 Lingnan Dr. Chung Wing Kwong Memorial Secondary School; O10 Lai King Assessment Centre; L1 Kwai Shun Street playground; T1 Open Storage Area Car Park Users; T2 Pedestrians Travelling on Street Level Under Kwai Chung Road Interchange; T3 Commuters on Tsuen Wan Road/Kwai Chung Road, T4 Commuters at Lai King Bus Terminus and T5 Commuters on MTR would expect to receive slightly adverse impacts. • All other LRs, LCAs and VSRs would experience insubstantial impacts. Key environmental problem avoided: • CP1 – The construction site is carefully designed to minimise impact on adjacent landscape. • CP2 – Replanting of disturbed planting areas with shrubs planting would be undertaken as earliest possible during the construction phase.
Landscape and Visual (Operation Phase – By Year 10)	Key environmental problem avoided: • OP1 – The proposed carriageway structures will incorporate design features as part of mitigation measures. • OP2 – The associated noise barrier should incorporate different means of mitigation measures for the associated noise barrier structures to reduce potential impacts. • OP3 – Roadside and amenity planting will be utilised throughout the site. • OP4 – The landscape proposal should consider introducing coloured paved materials to tie with the paving theme of Kwai Chung area. Environmental benefits of environmental protection measures recommended: • Landscape Character Area: - LCA6 Kwai Chung Road Interchange would expect to receive slightly beneficial impact. • Visual Sensitive Receivers: - T1 Open Storage Area Car Park Users; T2 Pedestrians Travelling on Street Level under Kwai Chung Road Interchange; would expect to receive slightly beneficial impact. • All other LRs, LCAs and VSRs would experience insubstantial impacts.
Landfill Gas Hazard	Impact/Problem: • As the work area of the Project does not fall within 250m consultation zone of the restored Gin Drinkers Bay Landfill, LFG hazard assessment is considered not necessary. No LFG hazard impact is anticipated.
Cultural Heritage	Impact/Problem: • As no cultural heritage resource was identified within the Assessment Area of the Project, no impacts to cultural heritage are expected to be anticipated during both construction and operational phases of the Project.

11.3 Principal Findings of the EIA Study

Air

Construction Phase

11.3.1 Potential air quality impacts arising from the construction of the Project would mainly be related to dust nuisance from excavation, material handling and wind erosion of the site. As no massive earthworks and excavation works are required during the construction of the Project, and dust suppression measures as stipulated under the Air Pollution Control (Construction Dust) Regulation, and good site practices should be implemented to further minimise the construction dust generated, significant adverse air quality impact arising from the fugitive dust is not anticipated.

Operation Phase

11.3.2 Potential impacts arising from the background pollutant levels within and adjacent to the Project area, vehicle emissions from open road networks and chimney emissions from the nearby factories have been assessed. Results of the operational air quality impact assessment related to vehicular emissions indicated that no exceedance of RSP, FSP as well as NO₂ hourly average concentration criterion is anticipated. Annual average NO₂ concentration limit in AQOs at some of the ASRs would be exceeded, under both “Without Project” and “With Project” scenarios, which was mainly resulted from the high background pollutants’ concentrations in this district. Marine emission rather than vehicular emission is concluded to be the major contributor to the high background level in most areas, mainly due to the pollutants emitted from the Kwai Chung Container Terminal nearby.

11.3.3 Comparison study between the two scenarios has been conducted. Results concluded that some environmental benefits would be contributed by the Project to the existing environment, which is mainly due to the improvement of traffic flow and vehicles travelling speed after the implementation of the proposed Project. As a result, the project is not anticipated in causing any adverse air quality impact and in fact will bring about improvements in terms of air quality impacts to the nearby sensitive receivers, as compared to the existing and future baseline conditions.

Noise

Construction Phase

11.3.4 This assessment has predicted the construction noise impacts of the Project during normal daytime working hours. With the adoption of quiet PME, movable noise barriers, noise jackets, mufflers, limiting the number of plants operated concurrently as well as good site practices, the noise levels at all representative NSRs would comply with the construction noise standard except two NSRs would exceed noise criteria during examination period at some months. The Contractor shall liaise with the school representative(s) to obtain the examination schedule and avoid noisy construction activities during school examination period to further minimize the construction noise impact to those NSRs.

11.3.5 A construction noise EM&A programme is recommended to check the compliance of the noise criteria during normal daytime working hours.

Operation Phase

11.3.6 The potential road traffic noise impacts have been assessed based on the worst case traffic flows in 2036. Without the noise mitigation measures in place, the predicted noise levels at the identified NSRs would range from 55 to 84 dB(A) L10 (1-hour). As a result, direct mitigation measures have been proposed to mitigate the noise impacts at the NSRs where DP road noise levels exceed the noise criteria or/and DP road noise contributions to the overall noise levels are more than 1.0 dB(A).

11.3.7 For those affected NSRs with residual impact, the DP road noise contributions to the overall noise levels would be less than 1.0 dB(A) and the DP road noise levels would all be below the relevant noise criteria, although the overall noise levels would still exceed the relevant noise criteria. However, it should be noted that such noise exceedances at the representative NSRs are due to the existing roads.

11.3.8 Monitoring of road traffic noise is recommended to verify the effectiveness of the mitigation scheme during the first year after road opening.

Water

Construction Phase

11.3.9 Potential water pollution sources have been identified as construction site run-off, sewage from workforce, and potential risk of chemical spillage. Adverse residual impacts would not be anticipated with the implementation of adequate mitigation measures including the of the construction site practices in accordance with the EPD’s ProPECC PN 1/94 Construction Site Drainage, provision and management of portable toilets on-site, and preventive measures to avoid accidental chemical spillages.

Operation Phase

11.3.10 Implications arising from the surface runoff during the operation phase would be insignificant. Adverse water quality impact would not be anticipated with the implementation of the recommended mitigation measures based on the findings of this EIA study.

Waste Management and Land Contamination

11.3.11 The Project is likely to result in the generation of a variety of wastes and require the management and disposal of C&D material, C&D waste, marine sediment, chemical waste and general refuse. Provided that the wastes are managed using approved methods described above, no unacceptable adverse environmental impacts will be envisaged.

11.3.12 The Public Works Regional Laboratory of Tsuen Wan (Laboratory) has been identified as a chemical waste producer, which is a potential contaminated land use within the project boundary. The allocatee shall be responsible for the land contamination assessment of the Laboratory Site and ensure the Laboratory Site is free from contamination at the expiry of allocation and therefore any land contamination concern arising from past activities would have been remediated prior to the construction of the works.

11.3.13 With implementation of good site practice, land contamination at the Site arising from construction and operation phases of the Project as road upgrading works is not envisaged.

11.3.14 No adverse environmental impacts on land contamination for the Project are anticipated.

Landscape and Visual Impact

11.3.15 Visual effects are particularly prominently along western fringe of Lai King Estate where the proposed road widening works is overlooked by a number of residential units. The widened road also located close to a school and passing through the surrounding footpath system causing slight to moderate adverse landscape and visual impacts

11.3.16 With the implementation of the proposed mitigation measures during construction and operation phases of the project, the effects of these identified impacts will gradually reduce to an acceptable level and in some cases slight beneficial by Year 10 of operation.

Landfill Gas Hazard

11.3.17 As the work area of the Project does not fall within 250m consultation zone of the restored Gin Drinkers Bay Landfill, LFG hazard assessment is considered not necessary. No LFG hazard impact is anticipated.

Cultural Heritage

11.3.18 As no cultural heritage resource was identified within the Assessment Area of the Project, no impacts to cultural heritage are expected to be anticipated during both construction and operational phases of the Project.

11.4 Environmental Monitoring and Audit

11.4.1 Environmental monitoring and audit (EM&A) is recommended for construction and operational noise. Regular site inspection/audit is also recommended for: i) dust, water quality, waste management and landscape and visual during construction phase; and ii) implementation of landscaping measures during operation phase. Details of recommended mitigation measures, monitoring procedures and locations are included in a stand-alone EM&A Manual. This will enable the Contractor to obtain early warning on potential adverse impacts from the works and take necessary action to reduce impacts in specific areas if the monitoring results are found to be close to the criteria. All the recommended mitigation measures should be incorporated into the EM&A programme for implementation.

11.5 Overall Conclusion

11.5.1 The EIA has been conducted based on the latest and best available information. The findings of this EIA have provided information on the nature and extent of environmental impacts arising from construction and operation of the Project. The EIA has, where appropriate, identified mitigation measures to ensure compliance with environmental legislation and standards.

11.5.2 In conclusion, the Project would comply with the environmental standards and legislation with the implementation of the proposed mitigation measures during the construction and operation phases. The EIA has demonstrated that the Project will not result in any adverse environmental impacts and in fact will bring about improvements in terms of air quality impacts to the nearby sensitive receivers, as compared to the existing and future baseline conditions. Environmental monitoring and audit mechanisms have been recommended for the construction and operation of the Project, where necessary, to verify the effectiveness of the recommended mitigation measures.