(). In Miaoli County the freeway mostly parallels Freeway 1 and Provincial Highway 61 (also known as West Coast expressway, ) all the way to Taichung. In Taichung, the freeway intersects with National Freeway 4 just north of Taichung International Airport. The stretch from Freeway 4 to Provincial Highway 74 (Kuaiguan-Wufeng expressway, ) forms the western and southern portion of the Taichung Beltway (). After entering Changhua County the freeway turns into a northwest-southeast direction heading towards Nantou County, intersecting Freeway 1 for the third and final time in Changhua. Before entering Nantou City the freeway meets National Freeway 6, which connects to the mountainous town of Puli and the Central Mountain Range. In Nantou, the freeway mostly travels in a north-south direction before exiting to Yunlin County, where it travels in a slight northeast-southwest direction again along Yunlin and parallels Freeway 1. This stretch of the freeway from Hsinchu to the intersection of Provincial Highway 78 (Taiwan) in Gukeng, Yunlin is also known as the Central Second Highway (). The highway continues to parallel Freeway 1 as it travels along the eastern parts of Chiayi County and Tainan. Provincinal highways 82, 84, and 86 as well as National Freeway 8 provide connections between Freeways 1 and 3. In Kaohsiung the freeway bypasses the downtown area and travels along the mountainous rural districts. Connections to downtown and Kaohsiung International Airport are available through National Freeway 10, which the freeway intersects in the rural district of Yanchao, as well as Provincial Highway 88 in the urban township of Chaozhou in Pingtung County. After passing though the intersection with Freeway 10, the freeway enters Pingtung and ends in Dapengwan National Scenic Area in the rural township of Linbian. The southern stretch of the highway is known as the Southern Second Highway (). Naming Freeways in Taiwan are officially coded "Freeways" with their respective numbers. By this principle, national freeway 3 is coded Freeway No. 3 () in official documents or on road signs. Besides the numeric name, on November 1st, 2004 it was named the Formosa Freeway () in a naming competition; however, its old alias Second Freeway ( or ) is more popular among the road users. History The original plan was only intended to build a second freeway between Taipei and Hsinchu. The construction began in 1987. Tucheng IC - Sanying IC was opened in January 1993, followed by Zhonghe