After ten years of painstaking repair, Nanheng finally reopened to Tianchi! Cars crowded mountain roads, local appeal, cherish land scars and awe of nature

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The Nan Heng Highway (Taiwan Provincial Highway 20) connects from Yujing in Tainan, through Jiaxian, Liugui Baolai and Taoyuan in Kaohsiung through Yushan National Park to Guanshan in Taitung. As the magnificent scenery became a popular tourist route, the Morakot disaster was hit in 2009, resulting in closed restoration for more than a decade and a heavy blow to the livelihoods of tribes along the route.

The Highway Bureau announced the opening of the elite section from Meishan pass to Tianchi on January 13, attracting a large number of Nanheng fans to revisit the old place, and businesses along the line are excited and looking forward to the emergence of cars that have not been seen for a long time. Local conservationists warn, "the Nan Heng Highway can see the real scars of the earth, excessive pursuit of economic development, and the consequences are borne by mountain forests and tribal residents." The earth and rock avalanche seen in Nanheng is not caused by the opening of roads and deforestation, but by the counterattack of extreme weather, which people walking on the road must reflect on. "

The scenery of Nan Heng Highway is magnificent, but behind it is a large number of engineering and technical forces digging mountains. (photo courtesy of Fu Zhinan) Nan Heng grocery store: ten years have passed, please let us serve you again!

When Yang Dengming, owner of the Meilan grocery store, introduced himself, he especially introduced that his family was the descendant of the Miaoli Hakka who went south to mine camphor a hundred years ago. In the 1930s, camphor did not lag behind, and many immigrants went to Taitung to reclaim or return to the north. Yang Teng-Ming's grandfather stayed in Nan Heng to manage groceries, but he did not expect that it would be easier to earn money than working. in the hands of Yang Teng-Ming's father, small hotels and gas stations were set up one after another to serve passengers.

"to remind you, the next gas station is on the pool, with a distance of 110 kilometers." Eye-catching slogans remind passengers that this is the last gas station in Nanheng Mountain area. The Yang family, who had not seen a traffic surge on the Nan Heng Highway for a long time, seemed particularly happy.

During the storm, Yang Dengming and his wife Peng Yili insisted on staying at home and did not leave by helicopter until they were ordered to evacuate. A month later, the resumption project began, and the contractor invited Yang Dengming and his wife to come back to operate and provide fuel for the construction vehicles. Once thought to be about to give up the century-old family business, but also because the restoration project continued again.

Many sections of the Nan Heng Highway collapsed in a large area, and the reconstruction project was washed away several times by torrential rain, so the reconstruction project was particularly difficult. Photo courtesy of _ Fu Zhinan

In the ten years after the disaster, the restoration project has replaced tourists and become the customer of the Nan Heng grocery store, from groceries and betel nuts to engineering equipment and consumables. The two children of the Yang family also came back from the city to help, and now the third generation has been born, and the whole family is guarding the small grocery store. Peng Yicheng says that the cost on the mountain is low, and the key point is "to earn a family peace, and a family reunion is happiness."

After the opening on January 13, quiet road traffic surged, gas stations and grocery stores increased supply business, but there were also collisions caused by excessive speed, and ambulances sped by every day. Even so, Peng Yicheng said: "after waiting for ten years to finally open up, it seems that we are about to usher in a new life and new hope." I am even happier than the Spring Festival. " Even if there is more hustle and bustle in life, my face is full of joy and smile.

Three generations of Nan Heng grocery store waited in the same room to serve the tourists. Peng Yicheng, the owner's wife, said that peace and reunion were earned. (photo / Lin Jiyang) six turtles Bora Business Circle: Nan Hengkai opens like rain after a long drought. I don't know how long the benefits of the crowd will last.

Bora is a famous hot spring resort in Kaohsiung. If the Nan Heng Highway is described as a major artery that transports people and drives economic development, then Bora is the heart of the Nan Heng Highway. Dozens of hot spring hotels, large and small, have become a relay station for passengers to stay and rest.

Zhong Henggui, former chairman of the Business Circle Association, is concerned about the number of traffic in Nan Hengtong every day, and can easily display the data: "from the first day, it was 507,684,609,564 in sequence. 997 approached the thousand mark on Saturday, and soared to 1322 on Sunday."

It is not without reason for Zhong Henggui to jump with the numbers in his heart. He recalls the prosperity before the storm. "there are people on Baolai Street for 24 hours. Business is so good that there is little time to close drawers when collecting money for change." Bora was hit hard by the flood after the storm, and the whole street fell to the bottom of the valley and was dying.

Looking back on that bleak time, Zhong Henggui described it as "hitting Bora too hard, losing direction, having no industry, and unable to see the future." At one point, he went to Qishan, where the damage was relatively minor, and rented the storefront of the old street and sold Nan Heng products, but the rent kept going up, so he had to return Bora again and again. After the opening of Nanheng, Zhong Henggui assessed that the performance of businesses had roughly increased by 30%, but he was also worried that the benefits of the crowd would not last. He hoped that the government would help speed up the progress of the project, so that the tide of tourists in Nanheng could be revived as soon as possible.

Wang Pengzi, a former tourism director who has long served six tortoises, believes that the opening of Nanheng attracts many people to revisit the old places, but it is estimated that the crowd will come down after the Spring Festival holiday. As the road opening to Tianchi still needs to be turned back, the place still needs to think about how to develop deep pocket tourism patterns, and after the fever goes down, communities and tribes can still attract tourists to visit again and again.

Zhong Henggui (left) and Yang Xiaozhi, head of Liugui District, discussed how to develop local in-depth experience travel before the full opening of Nan Heng Highway. (photo / Lin Jiyang) Meishan Tribal Youth: take advantage of the opening of the car tide to decorate a "small tribal bazaar"

In November, the Highway Bureau negotiated with the Meishan tribe about the opening of the highway. Lu Shihao, a young tribe, and his cousin du Yucheng thought quickly about how to take advantage of the opportunity to make a small fortune. The open space under the stone tablet belongs to the du family. The family leveled the land and turned it into a small tribal bazaar selling cabbage, agricultural products and snacks.

Since its opening, Lu Shihao has collected all 60 cabbages every day. He believes that this wave of craze is only short-term, and the number of people will be greatly reduced after the Spring Festival, so we can only take advantage of this wave of popularity to clear out all the vegetables in the short term in winter. He revealed that most of the tribal people in Taoyuan are employed in multiple ways. On the one hand, they take care of their family's fields, planting alpine fruit trees such as plums, plums, and peaches, and on the other hand, they have to look for all kinds of job opportunities in the mountainous areas. for example, to work in an engineering unit or as a security guard.

Lu Shihao said that before the storm, the tribes of Taoyuan could directly set up stalls on the roadside and sell them, but after the storm, they could only be transported to Fuxing Village for joint transportation and shipment, otherwise they would be handed over to the six Turtle Farmers' Association, and their profits would naturally be reduced. "if you can sell it directly to tourists along the road, you can save freight, cartons and formalities, and increase your income." He believes that the opening of roads has significantly increased tribal revenue.

The young people of Meishan tribe had a quick brain, and immediately after the highway was opened, they arranged a small tribal bazaar at Meishan pass. (photo / Lin Jiyang) A fairy: "this road is too hard to walk, and it is worth cherishing."

Zeng Jiajing, who promotes cultural creation and local tourism in Jiaxian, believes that Nanheng seems to be a portrayal of post-disaster reconstruction. After opening to traffic, it should not only increase the number of tourists, but also carry a lot of natural land trauma. Total quantity control should be set up to let visitors cherish this mountain forest.

"this road has been waiting for ten years, and it has been too hard in these ten years. How many people have risked their lives and sacrificed themselves to open this road?" Zeng Jiajing believes that we should look at Nan Heng KaiTong with humility and gratitude.

Zeng Liyun, a community worker, said: "I hope this highway will enable passengers to see the cost of this decade and cherish the use of environmental resources." Otherwise nature can take it all back at any time. " She believes that Nan Heng Highway is a naturally given environmental classroom, allowing visitors to better understand the importance of environmental sustainability.

Chen Zhicheng, director general of Jiaxian Image Business District, said: "seeing the growth of the crowd after opening to traffic is like seeing the hope of a revival of tourism, but it is not enough to rely on reinforced concrete to maintain this highway." he also agrees that total quantity control and high carrying capacity should be adopted. avoid environmental overload in order to make the Nan Heng Highway smooth for a long time.

Jia Xian's Zeng sisters (Zeng Liyun on the left and Zeng Jiajing on the right) have been working in the community for a long time. They expect road sightseeing after the disaster not only to sell, but also to let the outside world know about Jiaxian's life and the story of the mountain city. (photo / Lin Jiyang) Public works unit: the geology along Nan Heng Highway is fragile, and the restoration project has experienced hardships and dangers.

Chen Zhengwei, director of the Jiaxian works section, pointed out that the Nanheng restoration project faces great difficulties. The collapse site above the Meishanming tunnel is as wide as 13 football fields, and it experienced a large-scale collapse in 2016, crushing the newly completed tunnel. The torrential rain in the flood season even led to the shutdown of the work area for many times, which was so difficult that the contractor would rather cancel the contract and run away.

In the face of questions about the necessity of restoring the Nan Heng Highway, Chen Zhengwei explained that the Nan Heng Highway has its tourism economic benefits, and it is also an important road connecting agricultural tribes and connecting the east and the west. At present, Nan Heng is decomposed from the provincial level to a temporary access road (the road sign is marked as "105 temporary access road)" to reduce the scale to reduce the disturbance of the project to the environment.

It is reported that local people were invited to attend the meeting before the opening of Nanheng. At that time, some people advocated that total quantity control should be adopted to avoid excessive bearing of the fragile ecological environment in Nanheng, but another view was that at the initial stage of the trial operation, many people would come from afar, and service for the convenience of the people should not be subject to too many restrictions. In the end, the highway unit decided to adopt a plan without restrictions.

Chen Zhengwei said that although there is no total volume control, highway units control traffic flow by controlling opening hours. With regard to the issue of mountain forest conservation, highway units cannot restrict mountain entrants to engage in mountain forest activities. at present, the Yushan National Park Management Office has deployed additional mountain patrols and police officers to help maintain the Nan Heng mountain forest environment.