Starting in Taipei at what is now Taipei Gymnasium, the MacArthur Thruway headed east along Nanjing East Road, intersected with Keelung Road at Zhengqi Bridge, and crossed the Keelung River. From there, it went through Neihu, Xizhi, and Qidu, ending in Keelung at the intersection of Xiao 2nd Road and Zhong 4th Road. The length was. To handle the heavy traffic between Taipei and Keelung, the road was designed as a controlled-access highway, with 32 bridges, 12 interchanges, and one tunnel called the Zhongxing Tunnel. The tolls for using the road were NT$10 for large vehicles, NT$5 for small vehicles, and NT$1 for military vehicles. Tricycles, motorcycles, and bicycles were prohibited. Originally the speed limits were set to 80 km/h for flat sections and 60 km/h for hilly sections, but this was soon changed to 100 km/h and 80 km/h, respectively.
History
Construction of the MacArthur Thruway began in May 1962, took two years, and cost NT$260 million, including aid from the United States. The road opened on May 2, 1964. Originally, it was to be named Beiji 2nd Road, and it was later renamed Beiji Xin Road. After General Douglas MacArthur died a month before the road opened, the road was renamed in his honor. Unfortunately, the road was plagued with accidents. It was less than wide, with only one lane in each direction. There was no median to separate oncoming traffic, nor were there barriers along the side of the road. Traffic safety was not a well developed concept. Finally, the quality of the construction was poor. These factors led to a total of 51 accidents and casualties of 273 people within the first two years of the road's opening. The 1979 opening of National Highway 1 superseded most of the MacArthur Thruway. The main remaining section is from the MacArthur 1st Bridge to the Neihu Interchange of National Highway 1, about long. In 1980, it was renamed Section 6, Nanjing East Road. The frontage road along this section was also renamed to Section 6, Nanjing East Road in 2009. The other remaining sections are parts of Kangning Street in Xizhi District, New Taipei and Lane 253, Shijian Road in Qidu District, Keelung. Since 2019, two bridges of the latter are being reconstructed because of their aged, insecure and narrow structure.
