Buttons blundered in lift to Mong Kok footbridge that took 23 years to complete

A viral photo shows the buttons in the lift to the footbridge mislabeled. Photo: Facebook/Polly Fung
A viral photo shows the buttons in the lift to the footbridge mislabeled. Photo: Facebook/Polly Fung

A footbridge in Mong Kok that took 23 years to complete has finally been unveiled—but its long-delayed opening isn’t all that Hongkongers are buzzing about.

A viral photo shared on Facebook Monday showed the buttons in a lift to the footbridge wrongly labeled, the open button marked “DOOR CLOSE” and vice versa.

“Errrrr… [do I] look at the word or the sign?” a Facebook user wrote in her photo caption.

According to InMedia, workers fixed the lift buttons the next day.

Located on the busy Mong Kok Road, the footbridge commenced service last Thursday after being in the works for more than two decades.

Construction of the bridge was gazetted in 1998, but building works ran into setbacks due to the need to divert underground public utilities and lengthy legal procedures, according to a Legislative Council meeting record from 2010. The project was further delayed by the 2019 protests and the COVID-19 outbreak.

The footbridge spans across major streets in Mong Kok including Canton Road, Nathan Road and Sai Yeung Choi Street South.

Since opening, the footbridge has become a spot for the city’s photographers to snap pictures of the bustling district.



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