The congestion on Singapore Roads
are due to the LTA and Traffic Police methods of planning and
implementation of the Plans; and also the manner in which these two
Government Departments illogical manner in managing traffic during
Peak and Off-Peak Hours.
Roads are planned ahead of its needs, but are seldom put into
action until the expected problems are reaching almos full-blown -
if not already deteriorating.
According to Mah Bow Tan - then the Minister of Transportation -
when he opened the CTE, he claimed that the CTE was ten years in
the making, and by the time it was opened, it had reached its
maximum capacity; and he claimed that the Government cannot
continue building roads in Singapore.
Should we be surprised and question the brilliance in the manner
that the CTE took 10 years to plan, and when opened it is almost
immediately congested - and has remained congested till today
?
Does it not tell us that the CTE was under-designed ?
When the CTE was under construction, the AYE was undergoing major
upgrading to accomodate the heavy East-West traffic flow along the
ECP and AYE; as well as expected inflow from the CTE.
Even the older PIE was upgraded at about the same time as the AYE -
when the CTE was under construction.
Yet when the CTE was opened , it did not have any of the features
that were introduced in the upgrading works to the AYE or the PIE -
that have helped the AYE and PIE to handle high volume traffic more
effectively.
Since its opening the CTE has been congested due to its lanes being
narrower than the AYE, the filter lanes to exit or enter into the
CTE have insufficient lengths for vehicles to filter safely from or
into the main stream of traffic flow; and with multiple exits that
end up in traffic light junctions that result in vehicles being
backed up onto the CTE - [especially at the Ang Mok Kio and Yishun
intersections].
Generally, construction of expressways do not seem to reflect the
logical flow of traffic, as seen in the heavy traffic from AMK
moving to Jurong in the morning or evening peak hours - when
traffic from AMK Ave 6 will turn off at Marymount, to pass a short
section of Upper Thomson before going up the ramp onto the
MacRitchie flyover into Lornie-Adam Road towards Jurong.
For the residents staying in the North and North-east parts of
Singapore, travelling to Jurong is smooth along the TPE and SLE
until the expressway end, and the 3-Lane Expressway will need to
split into - one filter lane to the Causeway, another filter lane
to the Kranji Horse Race Tracks, and one lane to south-bound BKE
for subsequent connection to the KJE.
How did LTA planned for a 3-Lane expressway to terminate into a
1-Lane filter exit to three separate directions, when the SLE was
supposed to provide a northern route towards Jurong and traffic
flow is the heaviest in the morning Peak Hour ?
If Mah Bow Tah claim that there are insufficient land to build more
roads, somehow the LTA has proven him wrong, as newer roads and
flyovers are being squeezed into higher third level flyovers -
between the existing MacRitchie flyover - that allow traffic from
Braddell Road to move into Lornie-Adam Road - for traffice to flow
East-West; as well as new constructions that link the TPE to the
PIE and AYE.
Traffic congestion is also caused by the fact that the Traffic
Police do not seem to work within the LTA traffic management plans,
as the Expressways are designed to carry a high load of traffic
speedily per hour.
Somehow, the Traffic Police will insist on downgrading the speed
limit to ridiculous speeds that will force traffic flow to a crawl,
and with the speed limits rigidly imposed in an unthinking manner,
and designed as a blanket revenue collecting scheme for the
Government.
Most roads and expressways are safe to drive at higher speeds, as
can be seen during Off-peak hours, when most cars are driven at
speeds of 100km or more along the expressways with that has a
conservative speed limit of 90kmh. Most secondary roads are safe to
drive at 90kmh but drivers are restricted to a fixed speed of 70
kmh imposed throughout the island - unless other speed restriction
levels are displayed.
Unless due to the inattention of drivers, or selfsih attitude of
road hogging that caused impatient drivers to manoevre dangerously
- most roads are safe to drive at higher speeds.
During Peak-hours, cars are prevented from going any faster due to
the silly Speed Cameras planted by the Traffic Police that will get
''kia-see drivers'' to
slow down to a speed of 80 kmh - or to a crawl during Peak Hours,
when the speed limit on the Expressways is 90 kmh
The speed camera has caused the smooth traffic flow into a
''slow-stop-and-go'' crawl
that produce a backed up chain effect, causing a multiple repeated
built-up of time that each car stop and pick-up again, leading to
the massive jams caused by the slow down before the speed
cameras.
Expressways are designed to allow a high volume of traffic to move
vehicles to their destinations safely at the safest speed
reasonable based on the traffic conditions.
Slow driving speed is not necessarily safe - as frequent
bumper-to-bumper collision that lead to pile-up can occur more
frequently at crawling speed too.
The Traffic Police should change their attention on catching
speedsters, but to actually manage traffic situations along
Expressways.
Speed limits should be adjusted and road discipline should be
intelligently enforced that require slow or slower drivers to
observe lane discipline, and for cars 'NOT to hog the lead position beyond
3km' and for such lead cars to stay from the lead
position for another 1 km to 3 km - so as to allow other cars from
the rear to overtake the lead cars.
Intelligent traffic and speed management, as well as road or
expressways designs - will need to guide the Traffic Planners and
Managers in approaching the traffic situation in Singapore.
This is but only one part in solving the traffic problems, and
other essential parts will need to be included to complete the
jig-saw solution.
