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In Hong Kong, Yonggong, the land rises quickly behind the harbor.
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The central district sits along the Victoria Harbor,
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filled with office towers, banks, and trading firms.
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Just above it, the city climbs steeply into a residential area called the mid-levels.
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For decades, residents living there face the same daily climb.
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Steep roads and long staircases just to reach the businesses below.
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By the late 20th century, central have become one of the most concentrated
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financial districts on earth. Tens of thousands of workers move between the waterfront offices
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and hillside apartments every day. But the hillside posed a problem.
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Streets were narrow, buildings tightly packed, and the slope between central and the mid-levels
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rises more than 443 feet, 135 meters, over less than half a mile.
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Building a road-of-rail system through those crowded streets would have required
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demolishing large sections of the neighborhood.
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So city planners chose a different solution.
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In October 1993, Hong Kong opened the central mid-levels escalator system.
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The project cost about $240 million, Hong Kong dollars, roughly $30 million, US dollars,
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in early 1990s currency. Instead of one continuous escalator,
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engineers built a system as a chain of 20 escalators and three moving walkways connected by
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elevated platforms. Together, they stretch about 2,625 feet, that's 800 meters,
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climbing roughly 443 feet, 135 meters up the hillside.
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That segmented designs solved several problems at once.
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The steep gradient meant one long escalator would have been difficult to maintain
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and unsafe during breakdowns. By dividing the system into multiple sections,
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individual escalators can be stopped for maintenance while the rest of the route
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continues operating. The segmented layout also allowed construction crews to thread the system
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through narrow streets and existing buildings without major demolition.
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Platforms connected to sidewalks at different levels along the hill, allowing riders to enter
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or exit at dozens of points. Today, the system moves roughly 85,000 passengers every day.
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It even changes direction depending on the time of day. From about 6am to until 10am,
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the escalators run downhill so residents can reach offices and transit lines in central.
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After that, the entire system reverses and runs uphill for the rest of the day.
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A full ride from bottom to top takes about 20 minutes. Over time, something else happened along
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the route because thousands of people passed the platform's daily restaurants, bakery,
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markets, small shops clustered around the entrances.
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Cafes and noodle shops filled the narrow streets connected to the escalator walkways.
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A piece of transportation infrastructure reshaped the neighborhood around it. Today,
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the central mid-levels escalator carries residents, workers and visitors up a hillside
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that once required a long climb through steep streets.
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In Hong Kong, Yanggong, a half-mile chain of moving steps became part of the city's daily life.
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These are Interesting Things with J.C.