Hong Kong Is Home to the Longest Outdoor Covered Escalator System in the World

When the British took possession of Hong Kong Island in 1841, they basically took possession of a mountain jutting out of the South China Sea. Standing at 552 metres (1,811 feet) in height, its tallest mountain—Mount Austin, better known as Victoria Peak—offered limited possibilities with regard to urban development due to the steep terrain.

However, as technology improved, buildings started rising on the Peak. First limited to colonial officials and their families, the slope was gradually inhabited by the upper class living in the city. Today, this area of the city, known as the Mid-Levels, is still home to the most opulent classes. Yet, walking up and down the slopes of Victoria Peak remains as strenuous today as it was in the mid-nineteenth century.

Therefore, in 1993, the government of Hong Kong completed an 800-metre-long (2,625-foot) system of escalators and walkways with an elevation gain of 135 metres (443 feet) between Queen’s Road Central, at its lower end, and Conduit Road, at its upper end.

Although often called the longest outdoor covered escalator in the world, it is, in fact, the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world, interconnecting 16 separate reversible escalators and three inclined moving walkways (or travelators).

Either way, since its completion, the Central-Mid-Levels escalator has made life much easier for the residents and visitors of SoHo and the Mid-Levels.