Since its founding the Taiwan Highway Bureau has had two principal tasks: construction of Taiwan’s highways and management of motor vehicles services. These are vital responsibilities intimately connected to the lives and rights of the Taiwanese people, even as those lives change.
Over the years Taiwan’s economy has grown to the point where it can now be included among the developed nations of the world. It has achieved a high living standard and society has become more liberalized. Democratic changes have led citizens to demand transparency as part of their “right to know.”
As these changes took place a new duty emerged: making government policy and activities clear to the public. If the Highway Bureau and other public agencies do not fulfill this responsibility, the public may feel that the government is too secretive in its actions.
The Highway Bureau has therefore decided to describe its responsibilities and activities in this handbook, “An Introduction to the Taiwan Highway Bureau.” The text is in Chinese and English to facilitate a better understanding of the nature of the bureau’s work by a wider range of people.