Tieji Road Park Introduction
Tieji Road Park in Puzi City, Chiayi County, is a linear park planned by the Chiayi County Government and Puzi City. It stretches 1,250 meters in length. Some segments of the road were originally a garbage dump during the Japanese colonial period and were transformed in 1911 into a railway line, which started from the Suantou Sugar Factory to transport sugar and passengers using a small train. When the entire Taiwan Sugar Corporation railway was operational, it carried goods, coastal fisheries, agricultural products from the Chianan Plain, and more into Chiayi City, significantly impacting the entire economy of Taiwan and playing a crucial role in the economic take-off of the island. It wasn't until the early 1960s that passenger and freight services were reduced, and the small train's route was shortened to terminate at Puzi. After that, the section from Puzi Train Station to Gangqian Road was only used for transporting sugar. It wasn't until March 1999 that the small train finally became history, and shortly after, the Suantou Sugar Factory dismantled the tracks. After their removal, the railway lost its tracks and ties, along with its value, and was left abandoned, becoming a site where locals cultivated vegetables or dumped garbage and discarded furniture, leading to intolerable environmental pollution. Only after construction and renovation projects by Chiayi County was it transformed into the beautiful and charming "Puzi Tieji Road Park." The park has undergone comprehensive greening reforms along its length, with over a kilometer of linear park road trees, as well as the addition of facilities such as landscaping, walking paths, benches, and night lighting, officially completed in September 2004. The beautified Tieji Road Park not only offers the residents of Puzi City a nostalgic experience reminiscent of chasing the small train and harvesting sugarcane but has also become an important recreational area and tourist attraction in the locality.
