Channel NewsAsia - Friday,
July 27
ECP to be
realigned for new Marina Coast Expressway
SINGAPORE: Part of the East Coast Parkway will soon be realigned to
make way for a new expressway, called the Marina Coastal Expressway
(MCE), to ease congestion in the downtown Marina area.
The move, which was announced by Transport Minister Raymond Lim at
the Intelligent Transport Systems Centre, will also free up land
for more commercial developments there.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said the new expressway will be
built by 2013 at a cost of S$2.5 billion.
Mr Lim said: "The government has given the go-ahead to build
another expressway aka the Marina Coastal Expressway or MCE for
short. When it is completed in about 6 years' time, it will provide
an additional high-speed link to the Marina Bay area to support the
development of this new downtown."
The new 5-kilometre MCE will link the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway
(KPE) in the east to the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) in the west,
so commuters who are not headed downtown can bypass the Marina Bay
area.
To make way for the new expressway, the East Coast Parkway (ECP) at
Marina South will be realigned and converted to a major road to
serve the Marina Bay area.
Paul Fok, LTA's Group Director for Engineering, said: "Currently
the East Coast Parkway runs through the new downtown at Marina Bay,
with the expressway going through the downtown. What it means is
that the city cannot extend beyond the expressway into the Marina
Bay because from an expressway, you can't access the
developments.
"With the construction of the MCE, which will be nearer towards the
sea, we will be able to realign the East Coast Parkway and ensure
that people can access the development from East Coast Parkway. For
example, people from the Marina Sands integrated resort will be
able to join the realigned East Coast Parkway because there will be
traffic light junctions."
To facilitate the building of the MCE, 13.3 ha of land reclamation
will be carried out at Marina East and Marina Wharf.
The MCE will be constructed mainly underground, so that land above
it can be used for other purposes.
The route will comprise a 3.5-kilometre-long underground tunnel and
a 1.5-kilometre road structure above ground.
The construction of the new expressway will be no easy task because
part of MCE will run underneath the seabed, just 150 metres away
from the Marina Barrage, which needs to be opened from time to time
to allow water to flow out in the event of heavy rain.
Engineers will, therefore, have to take into consideration the
large amount of water that will be released and figure out how to
build the MCE safely.
The opening of phase 1 of the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway on 26
October was also announced on Friday.
This first phase will extend from the ECP at Fort Road to the
Pan-Island Expressway (PIE).
The LTA said commuters can cut travelling time by 5 to 8 minutes
using this new underground expressway.
Yam Ah Mee, LTA's Chief Executive, said: "The way the KPE is built
by linking the northeast corridor to the city & residents in
the northeast corridor will have an alternative travelling route to
the city. Those who now travel along the Tampines Expressway and
join the CTE will also have an option to use the KPE.
"On the other hand, residents on the western and north-western part
of Singapore will also have lesser traffic on the CTE and so we
expect improvement in traffic all round."
Phase 1 of the KPE will have three Electronic Road Pricing (ERP)
gantries, but only one will be charging motorists.
The LTA said the other gantries are placed there for monitoring
purposes and it will assess the traffic flow to determine if more
payment should be levied after a month.
The entire KPE, stretching from the ECP to the Tampines Expressway
(TPE), will open later next year.
When that happens, residents in Sengkang, Punggol and Hougang will
find their travel time to the city cut by 25 percent.
The 12-kilometre-long KPE, which cost S$1.7 billion to build, is
the longest underground expressway in Southeast Asia.
Since much of it is underground, the consequences of a major
accident are far more serious compared to an open expressway.
Hence, the LTA is embarking on a safety education programme on the
use of the tunnel. - CNA/so