Several proposed highways in the Klang Valley have sparked debates among the public on whether these are truly necessary especially in alleviating traffic congestion.
While some of those who are not supportive of new highway projects have suggested that the allocated funds be used to improve the public transportation system, others are asking the authorities to look into constructing the underground highways.
The proposed highways are said to be in tandem with the Government’s effort to improve the public transportation system including the current extension works for the LRT and MRT lines.
There were reports that some of the highways were necessary to support the growing number of vehicles on the road each year.
The Nielsen Global Survey of Automotive Demand report released in April last year found Malaysians having the third highest car ownership globally.
Malaysians also have the highest incidence of multiple car ownership with 54% of households having more than one car.
Seven out of 10 Malaysians would have intended to buy a car between last year and end of this year.
StarMetro spoke to experts from G&P Highways & Transportation Sdn Bhd, G&P Professionals Sdn Bhd and MAG Technical & Development Consultants Sdn Bhd to seek their views regarding urban highways.
They spoke on the need for a traffic survey, highway projects that are value for money as well as a new trend of removing existing highways for better traffic management.
G&P Highways and Transportation Sdn Bhd managing director Lee Choy Hin advised the public and the authorities to always question the purpose for a highway. The key objective should be to disperse traffic and be backed with a thorough traffic research, he added.
The ‘origin destination’ survey must be done and presented, said Lee, adding that the survey would indicate the percentage of traffic from one catchment to another.
“Impartial traffic simulation study is necessary. If a proposed highway claims to be able to remove the traffic from the inner roads, it must show how it will disperse at the end.
“If a highway aims to disperse traffic from point X to Y, a survey must be done to show if there is heavy traffic to these points from both directions. There should also be existing demand for the route.
Sg Besi Toll
“Ask motorists where they are heading and how often they travel from point X to Y and vice versa.
“Another research method is the surveyors matching the car registration number of those heading from X to Y to know the real percentage of the traffic volume,” said Lee, adding that the same concept would apply if several highways were connected.
Lee also said that in most cases, short distance urban highways were not cost effective.
“The main concern of a highway should not be to go underground or elevated but only if it is value for money.
“It is worse if one is stuck in an underground tunnel with numerous problems such as ventilation,” said Lee.
The Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (Smart Tunnel) serves to mitigate flood and as a traffic passage, he said.
“The double function of the Smart tunnel is good, however, I’m still trapped at Jalan Imbi during rush hour,” he said.
Lee also said that most existing urban highways faced congestion at the entry and exit points during rush hour.
Inner roads were also congested during peak hours resulting in traffic to backlog.
“This is one thing we can’t seem to change,” said Lee.
On removing highways, Lee wants the country to study cases of highways that were removed in developed cities such as in Seoul (South Korea), and in the states of California and Pennsylvania in the United States.
“The Chenoggye highway was built through Seoul in the 1970s to divert the traffic away from the city roads. However, after 15 years, the river beneath was choked, polluted and the traffic was not moving as expected.
“The then mayor of Seoul, from 2002 to 2006, Lee Myung Bak, convinced the government to remove the elevated highway. (He later became president of South Korea between 2008 to Feb 2013),” added Lee.
Solution:
G&P Professionals Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Dr Gue See Sew said public transportation was the key to solving traffic problems in the city based on the universal trend in developed countries.
“High-speed trains, metro, and subways in the world were built to solve city traffic problems.
“This is the direction Kuala Lumpur is heading and the Government has made the right decision.
“The focus should be to encourage public transport ridership and improve on the public bus system. A good feeder system complements the transit. Public transportation system may not be so attractive unless there are more park-and-ride system.
“This park-and-ride helps to extend the catchment area and directly increases ridership,” he said, adding that highways should not compete with the LRT and MRT routes as it defeated the purpose.
“A highway invites people to drive instead of taking the public transport.
“If you build a highway where there are LRT or MRT lines, people will still choose to drive. That is why the national transportation programme’s KPI is to increase the ridership. One MRT coach is equal to 50 cars, so why drive?”, he said.
Dr Gue said his last trip by the ERL was good as he reached the airport in 20 minutes.
“I am assured that I will be on time without worrying about traffic jams.
“Many park their vehicles at KL Sentral and take the train to KLIA. Even the LRT is heavily utilised and they have added coaches,” he said.
Dr Gue also suggested having more outer ring roads to keep traffic away from the city centre.
Ring road is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town or city.
“Beijing has about 10 ring roads and Seoul has six.
“Investment in this may be a better option than highways. The debate should go on. These roads must match the country’s masterplan,” added Dr Gue.
MAG Technical & Development Consultants Sdn Bhd traffic consultant Goh Bok Yen said well designed highways were needed such as having intra-urban expressways that were easily accessible with adequate signages leading to the highway.
He, too, agreed that the traffic dispersal was an important factor before deciding on any highway.
Based on his observation, some of the urban highways have fundamental problems such as issues with ‘lane balancing’.
“We have six-lane toll booths at the exit of a highway that will merge to two-lane inner roads. This is a fundamental problem where the dispersal objective could not be achieved.
“In my opinion the Ampang–Kuala Lumpur Elevated Highway (AKLEH) does not have a good design. One has to make a big U-turn to enter the highway if you are coming from Ampang,” he said.
Goh cited the root cause of poor highway design to land and property acquisition.
“Our society is very sensitive when it comes to taking away of land, hence we have awkward highway routes. They are also concerned about the impact on the environment. However, with good planning this should not be a problem,” he said.
Goh also said that the public often complained about getting stuck at toll booths to pay.
LDP Highway
Better incentives would encourage the public to use the SmartTAG and Touch ‘* Go lane he said, adding that it would result in faster exits from highways.
“Only 25% of our motorists are using the SmartTAG. The bulk of them go to the cash lane which can only accommodate up to 400 vehicles an hour. However, within the same duration the Touch ‘*’ Go and the SmartTAG lane can accommodate between 600 and 850 vehicle respectively.
“Many can’t afford the SmartTAG. If some toll discount is given to the SmartTAG users, more will use the facility,” said Goh.
Underground highway
When the shelved Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (Kidex) project came under scrutiny recently, some quarters suggested that it be built underground as the route would pass through a developed and highly saturated neighbourhood of Petaling Jaya.
Kidex Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Nor Idrus said it was possible to build underground highways but it would cost five times more than the estimated RM2.42bil for the elevated expressway.
He highlighted that the public may have overlooked the fact that double the number of properties would need to be acquired in Petaling Jaya if the highway was to be an underground tunnel.
“In Petaling Jaya the number of lots that may be acquired was 267 but if it was an underground tunnel we would need to acquire about 570 lots,” he said.
Among the other discouraging factors were – underground tunnel would not provide connectivity, increased in operation and maintenance cost, lack of underground work space and the high risk involved during the construction.
He said that a large and deep sinkhole such as the one at the Jalan Pudu-Jalan Imbi-Jalan Hang Tuah intersection could happen.
Kidex was cancelled by the Selangor government while the Federal Government is seeking legal opinion from the Attorney-General over the cancellation.
Keyword: Of urban highways and traffic woes