It connects Quarry Bay on Hong Kong Island and Cha Kwo Ling in Kowloon East.

Initially, the Government of Hong Kong had plans to build a bridge across the eastern portion of the harbour but due to fears of the bridge blocking planes landing at Kai Tak airport, this was shelved in favour of a tunnel.

The first person to cross the tunnel was the then-Governor of Hong Kong Sir David Wilson.

[4] Pacific Infrastructure Limited was granted a new contract to continue operating the tunnel.

In June 2005, CITIC decided to raise the toll for using Eastern Harbour Crossing from HK$15 to HK$25 for private vehicles and up to 67% for other classes of vehicles, under the fare adjustment mechanism derived from the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.