Photomontage of Option 5 (Bay View from Tseung Kwan O Town Centre South)


Photomontage of Option 5 (Night View from Tseung Kwan O Town Centre South)

Photomontage of Option 5 (Dusk View from Tiu Keng Leng towards East)

Photomontage of Option 5 (View Looking East on the Road Carriage)

Option 5 - Eternity Arch

Two relatively low profile outwardly leaning arches are visually connected to carefully sculpted piers to create an eternal never-ending loop, like the one created by the cycle track loop around the shores of Junk Bay, which is completed by Cross Bay Link. The Eternity Arch leaps across the channel with an energetic movement frozen in time, which reinforces the concept of eternity. The use of a strong symbolic identity creates a landmark sculpture for the residents of Tseung Kwan O to enjoy and contemplate.

The concept for the Eternity Arch is to create an object with a strong symbolic identity. The symbol of infinity is a well known expression of eternity or never-ending, like the proposed cycle track around Junk Bay, but also of the imagination of the vision for TKO New Town. The cables attaching the deck to the arch will be invisible to distant observers, therefore the arch leaps across the channel with an energetic movement frozen in time, which reinforces the concept of eternity. Introducing the concept of eternity to a bridge structure in this way will stimulate the people visiting Junk Bay to ponder, much like the great philosophers and mathematicians who over the centuries have contemplated the true meaning of eternity. The continuous curved shape of the arch fits in well with the organic shapes of the surrounding hills. The arch is not a high arch yet it still gives the sense of unity and harmony as though it were an extension of the hillside. V-shaped piers are adopted in the approaches to the navigation bridge in sympathy with the base of the arch to create a continuous aesthetic theme for the entire crossing.

The Eternity Arch adopts a "single corridor" configuration, which means that the 34.3m-wide deck with a two-lane highway carriageway, a 4m cycleway and a 3.5m-wide footway, sails between the leaning arches as if not touching. The inclined arch concept is visually expressed with arches that reach a modest height of 70m.

As with all arches, the Eternity Arch relies on compression in the arch element to resist the weight of vehicles and the bridge deck. The compression in the arch creates a thrust at its base, which in this case, is tied back through the deck. The outward lean of the arches requires them to be constructed from lightweight steel. The base of the arch which projects from the sea is concrete to achieve a durable and long-lasting structure. To achieve the slender proportions of the arch, particularly at its base, the deck of the main bridge will be in lightweight steel construction.

The captured energy of the arch will make Junk Bay an eternal icon in itself.

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