Conquering the Route Between Zhonghe/Yonghe and Taipei—Huazhong Bridge

Introduction

Readers who saw the title may be wondering, “Wait—aren’t we conquering the routes between Neihu and downtown Taipei anymore?”

So here’s the thing: the previous posts have already covered most of the bridges I normally use between Neihu and downtown. And because we have been getting an escape room ready to open, I have not had much time to explore new bridges lately.

There are only so many bridges between Neihu and downtown Taipei anyway. Even though I often cycle home, I mostly rely on these three. If you want to review the ways between Neihu and downtown, start with the following posts.

Conquering the Route Between Neihu and Downtown Taipei—Zhongshan Bridge

Conquering the Route Between Neihu and Downtown Taipei—Dazhi Bridge

Conquering the Route Between Neihu and Downtown Taipei—MacArthur Bridge No. 1

So why am I suddenly talking about a commute between Zhonghe/Yonghe and Taipei? The main reason is that this year I took on science tutoring at a cram school in the Zhonghe/Yonghe area, which means traveling there at least two days every week.

I still wanted some chance to exercise around work, so naturally I started looking for a bridge that could take me from Zhonghe/Yonghe back into Taipei by bicycle.

And while I am here, allow me one tiny plug: if you need a tutor, you can find me through the cram school below! At the moment, I mainly teach junior-high science and senior-high physics.

Chachun Education

Tutoring in Zhonghe/Yonghe unexpectedly gave me the chance to explore a commuting bridge in a completely new part of the city.

Huazhong Bridge connects Zhonghe and Wanhua. On both the Zhonghe and Wanhua sides, it has bicycle-friendly ramps and dedicated cycling paths.

The bridge itself even has a separate shared path for cyclists and pedestrians. Compared with many other bridges, this path feels much wider, and a metal railing separates it from motor traffic, which made it feel relatively safer to me.

You do not have to carry your bicycle or compete with cars and scooters while getting on and off the bridge. I found it relatively comfortable and safe, so it became my first choice whenever I planned to cycle back from Zhonghe/Yonghe.

All right, enough talking—let’s see how to get on and off this bridge!

Huazhong Bridge

Before we can talk about getting onto the bridge more safely, we first need to know how to enter the riverside park that leads to Huazhong Bridge.

My new cram school is near Jing’an MRT Station, so the most direct route for me is to ride along Jingping Road, continue through Lane 271 of Qiaohe Road and Lane 89 of Yonghe Road—both are fairly narrow lanes—then turn left at Section 3 of Huanhe West Road. Keep riding and you will see the bicycle ramp into the riverside park.

Okay, okay, I know that description alone is hard to follow. Let’s look at a map for the overall route first, then go through it one photo at a time.

If you want to try Huazhong Bridge, you can start from either Jing’an Station or Zhonghe Station; both lead directly to Jingping Road. Jingping Road bends a little instead of running perfectly straight, but it has very few branches, so the ride should be fairly easy to follow.

The main reason for taking Jingping Road is, of course, that it runs right toward Huazhong Bridge and makes it easier to enter the riverside area. Another reason is that much of Jingping Road is fairly bicycle-friendly.

That friendliness fades as you approach Huazhong Bridge, though. You may need to ride closer to the motor-vehicle lane, and that is important to say up front.

Once you reach the end of Jingping Road, Huazhong Bridge is suddenly right there in front of you in all its glory.

As the previous image shows, the structure on the left is already Huazhong Bridge itself.

Of course, you could charge straight onto the bridge without hesitation. But today we are talking about the more comfortable and relatively safer way onto Huazhong Bridge, so we will not enter at this intersection. We need a short detour.

First take the narrow road on the right side of the previous image. It is still part of Jingping Road—the small surface road beside where Huazhong Bridge rises above the ground.

Be especially careful here. The road is genuinely narrow, there is no dedicated bicycle lane, and it is basically wide enough for only one car. Whenever a car passes beside you, the space can feel dangerous, so please take care.

Continue straight along this small road. Its name changes from Jingping Road to Lane 271 of Qiaohe Road, then a little farther on to Lane 89 of Yonghe Road. The lane keeps getting narrower until it barely feels like a road at all.

Do not doubt the route at that point—just keep going. When Huanhe West Road appears across your path, turn left.

Because Lane 271 of Qiaohe Road and Lane 89 of Yonghe Road both run right beside Huazhong Bridge, you will essentially be underneath the bridge when you reach Section 3 of Huanhe West Road. The left turn therefore passes below the bridge.

After turning left onto Section 3 of Huanhe West Road, keep riding. You will pass an area that looks like a residential community. There are usually few people nearby, so the ride feels relaxed and reasonably bicycle-friendly.

Farther ahead, you will see something resembling a pedestrian overpass. That is your cue to go up, because the bicycle ramp climbs onto this structure.

Calling it a pedestrian overpass is a little odd, though. Its main structure is reached by bicycle ramps, with stairs for pedestrians as well. In practice, it is a facility that carries you into the riverside park.

There are two ways for bicycles to reach the ramp, depending on whether you approach from the left or right. On this route, go through the fence; once inside, you will see the obvious incline shown below. Follow it upward.

At the top of the ramp, you enter the structure. This is where it becomes clear why I hesitate to call it an overpass: it feels more like a tunnel or covered passage.

After leaving the passage, there is another bicycle ramp going down. Once you descend it, you are basically inside the riverside park.

Do not relax too soon and assume the rest will be a cheerful flat ride through the park. Remember how close we were to Huazhong Bridge before entering the riverside area.

In other words, we will not stay in this park for long. Ride forward just a little and it is already time to enter the Huazhong Bridge ramp.

For this particular trip, the park is really just passing through our story (laughs). Still, feel free to explore it if you are interested. I will find time someday to investigate whether it connects to any other bridges.

By the way, the park seems to have a dinosaur theme. From the passage we just used to the decorations throughout the park, dinosaurs are everywhere.

Huazhong Bridge is an important commuting link for Zhonghe. In my own experience, its access ramp feels broad and very comfortable for walking a bicycle.

Some bicycle ramps have limited space and cannot be built at a steep angle, so they use repeated switchbacks. That can make them feel cramped and less comfortable—like the ramp at Rainbow Riverside Park.

Once on the bridge, you will notice a difference from Zhongshan Bridge or MacArthur Bridge No. 1, where a separate cyclist-and-pedestrian path may still sit right beside traffic. Huazhong Bridge is more like Dazhi Bridge: it has a separate shared path plus a barrier between that path and the roadway, which felt much safer by comparison.

The cyclist-and-pedestrian path is wide enough for a few friends to ride side by side and chat without much trouble.

I have never cycled across Huazhong Bridge at night; the latest I have passed through was around dusk. During the day, I find the view from the bridge genuinely lovely and refreshing.

I wonder what the night view looks like. I should ride over and see it someday.

The scenery on the bridge itself can be rather repetitive, though. The bridge is broad and the crossing is long, so if you are tired or unfocused, it is easy to zone out while riding. That deserves special attention.

When it is time to descend, the ramp works much like the one on the way up—just follow it down. The Wanhua-side ramp, however, is the switchback kind I mentioned earlier, probably because of space constraints, rather than one long straight incline.

After coming off the bridge, I ran into the part I find most troublesome: the landing is still well above street level, on top of a slope, with a noticeable height difference from the ordinary road below.

As the image above shows, our position is still some distance from street level, so we need to find a way back down.

I usually ride a little farther until I find one of the steep-looking slopes down to the street and the bike lane on the opposite side. If you do not want to stay on top of the slope, another option is to find a staircase, walk the bicycle down, and then cross the road.

The area below Huazhong Bridge is Huazhong Riverside Park, shown in the image, on the Wanhua side of Taipei.

Turn right to head toward Gongguan, Shuiyuan, and Xindian—the black route in the image. Turn left to loop around Wanhua toward Ximen, Taipei Main Station, and the Zhongzheng, Zhongshan, and Datong districts—the blue route.

Because I am usually heading home to Neihu, I take the blue route. I follow the riverside path to the Yuanshan area, leave the park for a short stretch through the city, pass Taipei Expo Park, cross Zhongshan Bridge, and enter the riverside park again to keep riding.

You may be wondering: why not stay inside the riverside park instead of cutting through the city?

Here is why. To reach Neihu on this route, I need to use Zhongshan Bridge. If I stayed inside the riverside park the whole way, I would have to ride much farther to Shezi Island before looping back.

Unless I specifically wanted a long recreational ride, there would be absolutely no reason to do that for an ordinary commute XDDDD.

After leaving the bridge, the riverside bike path is very smooth and mostly follows a single route with repetitive scenery, so getting lost is unlikely. I will not document every turn with photos here; these images simply show some of the things you may pass along the way.

The exit back into the city is just a small gate facing the road, roughly near Taipei Expo Park in Yuanshan.

The gate has an enormous cluster of lights above it, as if they are terrified you might somehow miss it. Do not worry—you almost certainly will not.

I have not ridden much farther along this section, so I cannot say for sure where the next exit is. I will investigate for everyone the next time I go cycling.

Conclusion

It was a rare coincidence that gave me the chance to study how to cycle from Zhonghe across the bridge into Taipei. After this trip, my mental bicycle map finally expanded into Zhonghe and Yonghe.

By the way, if I ride from Jing’an back to Neihu without stopping for food and just keep pedaling, the whole trip takes close to two hours. My butt is basically destroyed by the end.

On the map, the route looks almost like riding across the diameter of the Taipei Basin. Every time I make the trip, I sleep especially well that night.

All right, I hope I can keep finding time to cycle and unlock more of the map. See you in the next post!