View source for Harcourt Road

{{short description|Road in Admiralty, Hong Kong}}
{{Infobox street
| name        = Harcourt Road
| native_name = {{native name|yue|夏慤道}}
| namesake    = [[Cecil Harcourt]]
| image       = Harcourt Road near Admiralty Centre.jpg
| caption     = Harcourt Road in November 2011, buildings include [[Bank of America Tower (Hong Kong)|Bank of America Tower]] (Left)
| direction_a = East
| terminus_a  = [[Gloucester Road, Hong Kong|Gloucester Road]]
| direction_b = West
| terminus_b  = [[Connaught Road Central]]
| location    = [[Admiralty, Hong Kong|Admiralty]], [[Hong Kong]]
| mapframe-wikidata = yes
| mapframe-zoom = 14
}}
{{Chinese
|t=夏慤道
|s=夏悫道
|j=Haa6 kok3 dou6 
|y=Ha6 kok3 dou6
|p=Xiàquè dào
}}
[[File:C360 2011-08-02 15-16-59.jpg|thumb|Harcourt Road in 1961–1963, [[Admiralty Dock]] (Naval Dockyard-Tidal Pool) still exists, but the Boat Pool (above) is already filled with rocks to become a road.]]
[[Image:HK QWB Tamar Harcourt Road.jpg|thumb|A view of Harcourt Road in May 2006, with the still-undeveloped [[Tamar, Hong Kong|Tamar site]].]]

'''Harcourt Road''' ([[Traditional Chinese characters|Chinese]]: 夏慤道) is a major [[highway]] in [[Admiralty, Hong Kong|Admiralty]], [[Hong Kong]], connecting [[Central, Hong Kong|Central]] and [[Wan Chai]]. It starts at [[Murray Road]] and ends at Arsenal Street.<ref>{{cite book |title= Signs of a Colonial Era|last1= Yanne|first1=Andrew|last2= Heller|first2= Gillis|year= 2009|publisher=[[Hong Kong University Press]]|page= 73|isbn= 9789622099449}}</ref> The road is 780 metres in length and has four lanes of traffic on either side. The section of Harcourt Road westbound between [[Rodney Street, Hong Kong|Rodney Street]] and [[Cotton Tree Drive]] features a [[frontage road]].

==History==
{{unreferenced section|date=August 2015}}
In the early 1840s when Hong Kong was colonized, the present-day Admiralty was planned to be of military use, the navy situated at the seafront and the army back on the hillside. That leaves in-between a rather large, elongated piece of land. In the 1870s, the [[Admiralty Dock]] was built on that stretch of land. Prior to its construction, the then governor, [[Arthur Kennedy (colonial administrator)|Sir Arthur Kennedy]] discussed the possibility of running a narrow public road through this land with the military officials but was rejected to protect military secrecy. [[Kennedy Road, Hong Kong|Kennedy Road]] in the [[Mid-Levels]] was built as a replacement. Then for decades numerous attempts by different governors negotiating on this matter failed.

After World War II, the navy strength of the British Empire in the far east diminished, hence this piece of land containing the Admiralty Dock amongst others was returned to the government. The Admiralty dock finally ceased operating in November 1959 and was demolished soon after. Due to the rapid development of Central and Wan Chai, traffic congestions occurs frequently in the area and diverting traffic uphill to [[Kennedy Road, Hong Kong|Kennedy Road]] is inconvenient.

So after the [[land reclamation in Hong Kong|reclamation]] of parts of the dock, Harcourt Road was built and opened to public in 1961 to ease these problems. It was named after [[Cecil Harcourt]] of the [[Royal Navy]] who received Hong Kong from [[Japan]] after [[World War II]], on 7 April the same year. Harcourt Road was once a waterfront promenade. The road has serious safety problems; 13 car accidents happened at the same curve of the road within six months. Hence on 13 August 1962, a speed limit was placed that traffic cannot exceed 35&nbsp;km/h when passing that curve; this happened to be the first speed limit all over Hong Kong.

In January 2019, the [[Central–Wan Chai Bypass]] opened, providing a parallel expressway route to Harcourt Road, [[Gloucester Road, Hong Kong|Gloucester Road]], [[Victoria Park Road]] and [[Connaught Road Central]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/2186674/hong-kongs-central-wan-chai-bypass-fully-open|title=Hong Kong’s Central-Wan Chai Bypass to fully open on February 24 after month-long first-stage operations|author=Phila Siu|date=18 February 2019|newspaper=South China Morning Post|access-date=23 June 2021}}</ref>

==Harcourt Road Flyover==
The Harcourt Road Flyover at the western part of the road opened on 19 April 1966.<ref>{{cite news|title=Harcourt Road Flyover opens on Tuesday|work=South China Morning Post|date=16 April 1966|page=6}}</ref> To link Harcourt Road with [[Queen's Road East]] and [[Garden Road, Hong Kong|Garden Road]], the Albany Nullah was decked over and a new road built called Kapok Drive (now Cotton Tree Drive). These flyovers and slip roads opened in the late 1960s.<ref>{{cite news|title=Flyover To Garden Road Open To Traffic Tomorrow|work=South China Morning Post|date=3 August 1967|page=6}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Slip road opens tomorrow|work=South China Morning Post|date=4 May 1968|page=5}}</ref>

==Events==
[[File:Umbrella Revolution Harcourt Road View 20141028.jpg|thumb|Protesters occupying Harcourt Road in October 2014.]]
From 28 September 2014 to 11 December 2014, the [[Umbrella Revolution]] took place. Harcourt Road, near to the [[Admiralty station (MTR)|Admiralty station]], [[Central Government Complex (Hong Kong)|Government]] and [[Legislative Council Complex]], transformed into [[Umbrella Square]], was occupied for 79 days by pro-democracy protesters.<ref>{{cite web|last1=DeWolf|first1=Christopher|title=A Revolution in Place|url=http://www.urbanphoto.net/blog/2015/03/30/a-revolution-in-place/|publisher=Urbanphoto|access-date=6 May 2015|date=30 March 2015}}</ref>

[[File:2019-06-12 Hong Kong demonstrators on Harcourt Road.jpg|thumb|250px|Protesters on Harcourt Road on 12 June 2019, adjacent to the [[Central Government Complex (Hong Kong)|Central Government Complex]]]]
On 12 June 2019, [[2019–2020 Hong Kong protests|protesters]] took place on Harcourt Road to oppose the extradition bill to China.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/hong-kong-protests-crowds-gather-as-lawmakers-prepare-to-debate-extradition-bill|title=Hong Kong protests: At least 72 people taken to hospital during clashes with police|author=Claire Huang|newspaper=[[The Straits Times]]|date=12 June 2019|access-date=23 June 2021}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of streets and roads in Hong Kong]]
* [[Hennessy Road]]
* [[Connaught Road Central]]
* [[Bank of America Tower (Hong Kong)|Bank of America Tower]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Harcourt Road}}
* [https://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=&saddr=22.281502,114.162739&daddr=%E5%A4%8F%E6%85%A4%E9%81%93+%4022.279700,+114.168880&mrcr=0&mrsp=0&sz=18&mra=dme&sll=22.281889,114.163527&sspn=0.002035,0.003648&ie=UTF8&ll=22.280545,114.16582&spn=0.00407,0.007296&z=17&om=1 Google Maps of Harcourt Road]

{{HKislandroads}}
{{HK routes|r4;}}
{{Central and Western District}}
{{sequence
|prev=[[Gloucester Road, Hong Kong|Gloucester Road]]
|list=[[Route 4 (Hong Kong)|Hong Kong Route 4]]<br>[[Image:HK Route4.svg|x20px]]<br>Harcourt Road
|next=[[Connaught Road|Connaught Road Central]]
}}

{{Coord|22.28085|114.16355|display=title}}

[[Category:Former Part of Route 4 (Hong Kong)]]
[[Category:Admiralty, Hong Kong]]
[[Category:Roads on Hong Kong Island]]