It happens every festive season, the increase in traffic volume on highways resulting in the inevitable, familiar congestion, with a journey that would usually take four to five hours to accomplish ending up needing more than 12 hours of travel time.
In a bid to improve the situation, the Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) says it is in discussions with PLUS on plans to widen major roads and highways so that traffic flow can be eased during festive seasons, the New Straits Times reports. According to MHA director-general Datuk Aziz Abdullah, the north-south routes should be widened to be able to accommodate more vehicles.
“The roads remain the same and there is no provision for the road concessionaire to widen them. We are trying to negotiate with them slowly, on plans to widen the roads, which involve the north-south routes as traffic flows are heavy, especially during peak season,” he said.
In a separate report by the publication, experts say that the idea needs more thought, stating that there are better – and less costlier – alternatives that can be explored, one of which is for authorities to upgrade the level of public transportation.
“We cannot say that widening roads will solve the congestion problem. That is not right. Perhaps it is okay to have roads widened to ease traffic flow in the future, but what about the off period (non-festive season)?,” said traffic engineering specialist Dr Law Teik Hua.
“It is not necessary to widen roads to ease traffic. It will be costly and time-consuming to do this. It is wasteful. Why don’t we use our resources to invest in upgrading public transportation? We have to think about how to improve public facilities to accommodate the demand,” he told the publication.
Meanwhile, Universiti Putra Malaysia professor Dr Wong Shaw Voon said a study on road widening needed to be carried out to determine if it was necessary, and areas needed to be identified carefully. He said if the road widening project was carried out in bottleneck areas, the chances of other locations experiencing bottlenecks would be higher
“This will worsen traffic. I think the authorities should carry out a study first before implementing such a project. This needs to be studied as it involves changes in traffic dynamics. Traffic congestion cannot be solved if the road-widening project is carried out in the wrong place. This will lead to more problems,” he said.
In a related-issue, Law lauded the government’s plan to ban heavy vehicles during peak seasons to reduce congestion, but added that it would be challenging for business owners and travellers.
“Commercial vehicles that carry fresh produce and other goods need to meet demand (for the goods). The festive season is the time when supplies are needed the most. They need to send supplies to meet the demand. It is crucial for petrol companies too. They need to meet the demand, especially during festive seasons, because this is when vehicles need fuel when travelling,” he explained.
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Better public transportation the gooder solution.
The Gov should allow us to use the emergency lane.
then MHA close all the road to only 1 lane at PLUS highway, bcoz wide road is not solution the problem. 1 lane is not the problem. Sohai betoi…
This is done in Germany: During the rush hour the emergency lanes can be used. Seen in Stuttgart, Cologne and Munich.
They use special roadsigns for that (either automatic or 7-9am/5-7pm).
LRT from KL to Padang Besar, bestnya.
noob..ets dah ada
Public transport is a expensive solution. Train tickets i europe, japan and chin are not cheap.
Rapid urbanisation did not goes well with third world mentality ppl in this region compares to developed nations.
Having 3rd national car instead of rail will solve traffic issues, says nobody.
Outcome of today’s statements, nurtured by the idiots of yesterday.
ECRL from pantai timur, HSR to southern & ETS going to Kedah utara will be our Game- changer.
agree, widening road cost money and environment..not worth it
but during festive seasons, maybe can open contra lanes..last weekend on PLUS highway jam gila, but no contra lane.
agree.. but during festive seasons, maybe can give tiket diskaun 70% for bas ekspres and ktm. then increase highway tol by 500%.
the rich drivers subsidized the poor public transport users. PLUS highway tak jam gila, sampai kat kampung pn tak sesak kambing..
Well pandafood that’s about the single dumbest statement i’ve read this month, thanks.
idiot..a family of five easily save money driving in a car comparing with any other public transport
Just widen the road. Its more cost effective. Building rail lines cost even more money and operating trains are more expensive.
Invest more in improving the economy of the small towns & kampungs so people wont have to move to the big cities to make a living. This will reduce the balik kampung traffic in the long term.
In fact, I foresee that in 5 years time there will be less people who balik kampung once their parents/grandparents passes on.
that’s the result of investing too much in KL..the same goes to the public transport in other town area..poor comparing to Kl, how to connect efficiently to other areas
With our Flying Car-pet National Car Project, you won’t need highways or roads. Toll free flying some more, everybody happy.
Satu lagi Projek Pakatan Hopeless.
nothing we can say..hsr had been cancelled by gov today. unfortunately, some of them still focus on 3rd national car or flying car.
no need to establish another national car. we as malaysian also can learn a lot of engineering in different field from hsr or other public transport project. if that a reason why we need another national car.
sorry tun m..i lost my word since you too obsess with “protiga”. lucky for you since u can drive without traffic jammed and with escort.
HSR only defered and not canceled. To resume activity by end May 2020. Govt to pay to S’pore if it were to cancel HSR.
In fact… potential HSR participant had already proposed industry n education tie up to help nurture and develop local skills regarding tech and maintenance of HSR project. It is a great opportunity to develop local skills and knowledge on new high tech transportation industry.
BUT… TunM and PH govt too STUPID to see…!
I think most ppl drive and not take the plane, train or bus is because they need the car at their destination. What if KTM can carry cars as well. So ppl have a choice of loading their cars onto the train and travel in ease without worrying about traffic. And still have their transport with them at their destination. But the price would have to be reasonable (less then hiring a rental car).
I think most ppl can grab, teksi or get their family/ member2 kampung to jemput at their destination. normally i prefer to ride kapcai oldskool style without topi around kampung and nearby. Esp in current gig and sharing economy.
Improved Public Transport ? Agreed ! first we build MRT/LRT line which is good, now how about wide parking area for a particular station? given example USJ, no need build 2-3 stops as these benefits for ppl whom live nearby there only. concentrate on a vast open area in USJ as example with ample parking space and follow by shuttle bus. so instead of spending money building a few station, concentrate on just 1.
widening road won’t solve traffic but attitude will
Agree, widening of the highway will not reduce congestion. Just look at the KL-Seremban stretch of highway which has 5 lanes on each side. Yet you have lorries and busses driving on the middle lanes and slow cars on the fast and second lanes. The key is education on proper driving and a change in our attitude. Keep to the left unless overtaking, observe speed limit, use the indicator when switching lanes and we just might see the traffic improve and accidents reduced.
enough with educating these drivers..they are not even young anymore..just punish these offenders!
The Plus highway stretch from KL to Ipoh is congested even on normal weekends with lots of lorries. Double lanes is simply not enough for today’s traffic flow compared to 30 years ago when it was built.
Implement GPS based toll systems like SG. So that all cars will be tracked whenever they go. It will be the best toll revenue collection machine. And u can adopt surge pricing on the toll charges depending on the traffic load too.
Sigh, don’t tell me you need singaporeans to tell you what to do to bring in big income under the pretence of controlling traffic.
You guys have too easy access to cars already. This needs to be stopped
contra lane during festive season is the cheapest solution.
and give discount to those who willing to travel during midnight / off peak. The traffic we been through on last saturday was crazy!
Thinking about switching to motorcycle. Of course, riding in a safe way. I’d like to think not all heroes wear capes, in this context, I’m putting one less car on the road.
If more people who travel alone do this, there would be less car and less jam. Be part of the solution, not just complain or waiting for others to take action so you don’t have to.
Ah Chong kor, car pooling is way much safer.
True true, no doubt. But then not every one can car pool and not everyone’s tolerance on danger/risk is the same.
Every decision is a compromise. Pick your own poison I guess?
You can go on a bike/ walk all you want, you can even go back to the cave i don’t think the community cares.
But don’t condemn others who are wiser then you to think of a bigger picture. The current gov is doing nothing but sucking us back to 1998.
foreveralone boleh la, not family
Just my personal opinion, the traffic jam on highway are due to large commercial trucks which are slow moving on the highway and overtaking each other causing all other cars behind to slow down. When slow moving traffic, these trucks overtaking forcibly and abruptly causes the already slow moving cars to come to a halt and resulting with continuous stop and worst case scenario… accident.
That reason is only one of the contributing factors to the traffic jam. There are other factors as well causing this problem.
The main picture can be used as evidence to issue summon for all those drivers using the emergency lane right?
The main cause of traffic jam are the illegal parking cars at the side of the road without any action being taken. If u passed by pantai dalam u’ll know what i am trying to said.
agree. unfortunately u off topic
Ever since year 2010.. our country are putting 500k to 600k brand new vehicles on the road exclude rebuilt and recondition vehicles and motorcycles.
Imaging that amount of cars today in Malaysia. I do agree that widening highway wont turns traffic better. Our country has highest vehicle owned by a person or family. An average family with 2 kids can own up to 4 cars easily. Eg. 1 compact HB, 1 C-Segment Sedan, 1 SUV/MPV and 1 B/A-Segment sedan…
Without any aged car scrapping policy or any better public transport facility happen to Malaysia, this country will not have solve traffic problem. No matter how expansive our toll or fuel is, people are still forced to use it.
An average family with 2 kids can own up to 4 cars easily.
for universiti students – that’s because University hostel is so expensive.
for young graduates – unable to afford new House even by renting one.
forced to stay with family. lacking affordable and connected public transport. Grab is expensive choice of public transport for daily ride for us.
Agreed with mr octopus comment.
Government should curb migration by create more job oppurtunity such as industrialisation,college,university,training centre and etc at kampung2 and small town area instead of focusing at klang valley.
On the other notes government should upgrade all the main trunk road esp north south area from single lane to double lane so that can solve jammed issues due to slow movement on heavy vehicle whereby the car user unable to overtake them due to single lane constraint.
Besides.,government should focus to create more alternatives highway routes instead of widening the existing road. For example at north south highway…every year the same heavy traffic jammed will be an issue.
Why dont we create a new highway for north south since most of the road user is using this route so that the drivers can choose other alternatives road .Infact the cost to built a fresh new highway is far cheaper that widening the existing highway.In this context i had impatiently waited for the new coastal highway to be completed from kapar to cht jering.why its took so long to complete.i find out a lot of the jkr project especially at the federal route are very slow completion…..still a lot of minum kopi attitude and no urgency at all.that why development in our country is very slow.
Lastly…is our drivers atitude…still many of them love to drive slowly even though at right lane of the highway.sometimes they take their own sweet time driving at speed 30 to 40 km by ignoring other people urgency.
Reduce the number of Perodua SH drive slowly at fast lane will do.
Of course u need to widen the road. The 2 lane to from slim river to penang was build in 80’s. That is almost 40 years ago. Of course the highway cannot cope it was design to cater for 20 years only. Another 20 years has pass by and still nothing. PLUS u need to plan for the future not wait until problem comes only u act. With last weekend amount motorists increase 40% the traffic was almost a halt. Imagine another 6 or 7 years ahead the motorists increase 40%, the highway becomes jam everyday regardless of holiday.
Mangkuk, buang plaza tol settle jam.
The idea of widening highway lanes is one of the necessary actions to be taken at needed locations, especially northsouth highway after Melaka towards Johor with just two lanes accommodating mass traffic..Even with four lanes from Seremban to Nilai yet congestion still occurs, due to the carelessness n improper use of lanes.. Government should take strict actions against road hoggers who simply drive the vehicles slower at faster lanes..Besides, what is the point of going cashless at tolls when u just have 2 smartag lanes…More smartag lanes are necessary…Other then that, highways normally congested whenever there is accident occurs…Drivers like to slow down n watch the incident. The police should act instantly to clear the accident and should set up a min range of speed limit alert before 1km from the accident location. Portable speed cameras should be set at the location of the accident happened,,so that the drivers should follow the range of speed given in order they do not stop and stare, which will allow smoother traffic..
My personal opinion which I observed for few year about the traffic situation on north south highway. As Long as all users KEEP LEFT UNLESS OVERTAKING and the traffic can be at least 50% smoother. Do try to oberve mostly the a Long might just coz by the slow car who is driving on the fast lane. With this more civilised way it will cos nothing but help a lot on the traffic situation on north south highway.
Middle lane is the left lane in Malaysia. The real left lane is for lorries. Emergency lane for motorcycle. Motorcycles will crash into you if you stop in the emergency lane, for example due to tyre puncture. Middle lane cars will drive at 90km/h on the highway. And right lane cars 150km/h. Speed limit 110/h followers is the outcast.
1) better public transportation.
Try buying KTM ETS tickets during festive season. They are sold out months in advanced.
Even an extended 4-5 hour KL to Ipoh drive ( usually 2+ hours) is just as long as taking a cab/grab to Sentral, waiting for the ETS, then having to get a cab back home.
I tried a few times. Gave up on the ETS. I just take the trunk roads. Can’t be bothered with the NSE.
What about other locations not served by train? What now? How about travelling with family and luggage?? Public transportation isn’t cheap with a family on tow.
Try taking the NSE at any weekend. You don’t need a long holiday period or festive season to jam up the highways.
That said, widening of roads is not the solution. They can start with with education and enforcement.
1) do not rubber neck and Kay Poh. How many times do you see completely unrelated people stop (especially motorcyclists) to gawk ..no need to go to work kah?
2) Get lorries and busses off the middle and fast lanes
3) get overloaded lorries that can’t climb a small gradient off the highway
4) right lane for overtaking only. Middle lane not for you to hog at 80kmh. If you want to drive at 80, just take the trunk roads. If a lorry needs to overtake you, then you are driving too slow. Get off the bloody highway!
5) emergency lane abusers should be thrown in jail. After last year’s crackdown, all was well, now all these loosers are at it again. Time for another one.
6) don’t drive like a lunatic and crash into the slow ass driver who don’t know how to merge lanes correctly.
7) learn to merge into lanes. Speed up, then merge. Not merge and cause everyone behind you to slam on the brakes …and causing tailbacks…….
1st lane (fast lane) 90, 2nd 100, 3rd 95, 4th 300km/h
KL and Klang Valley is overly congested. New generation with education must come KL to work especially high tech/IT field, so when long holiday everyone going back hometown, thus traffic congestion. Even nowadays you take LRT go work also very congested during peak hours (proves that people also takes public transport), yet the road still experiencing worsen traffic jam. The solution to these problem is our Gov must try to do modernization for other states.
Of course updrading current highway will costly, involve time and extra heavy traffic during peak hours or seasons..but as we pay extra for highway, we should have smoother journey especially on intercity/interstate. Almost no way to reduce traffic at klang valley without upgrading public transport.
The main concerned is long distance journey. As some highways only have 2 lane only plus jalan berbukit, heavy transport must reduce or ban during holiday festival because transport contribute big part on traffic.
All rnr and highway entrance and exit (tol) must have extra buffer/ longer to accomodate more que car maybe longer than 2 km from exit to tol/rnr. Below 2km need to upgrade.
For east journey there is no way to reduce traffic at gombak tol/ karak higway during holiday festivel. New better alternative highly needed may be upgrade bukit fraser road to skip bentong city which saparate between kota bharu and kuantan/kuala terengganu. May be new highway from tanjung malim to somewhere raub.
Anyway goverment must concern on this issues .
all traffic jams are due to bottlenecking. 4 lane became 2 split lanes at the end. 5 lane became 2 lane. look at tun razak heading to TRX. look at sg. besi highway heading towards kuchai/taman desa. look at ldp highway heading towards tropicana. look at lebuhraya tuanku abdul halim from semantan leading to kl sentral. look at puchong the one in front of Aeon mall. ALL same issue. ALL bottlenecking crap. moreover endless upgrade works DUKE, SUKE and MRT SSP line that eats up 50% of the lane. this is why driving in KL sucks, and grab thrives in KL.
These professor obviously does not drive cars. You really need to widen the north south highway from a) sg petani to sg dua and juru to changkat jering. This is a daily traffic problem plus a jam caused by toll booths at juru and sg dua. B) from ipoh to sungeoi siput c) from jb to malacca. D) must diveet some traffic from seremban to kl using alternative parallele highways like “lekas” and also elite extension down to senawang in seremban.
widing road will not help when
1. Limited public transport capacities
2. Road hogging mentality by drivers
3. Busses, trucks and slow moving vehicles taking middle lane as slow lane
4. Selfish drivers purposely blocking cars from moving faster. Like their grand father road.
Just don’t travel during long weekends. Stay at home. Getting stuck in a 8 hour traffic jam for some Penang char kuey teow just ain’t worth it.
government should lower the price of air tickets during festive seasons.
I think best way cut down to single lane only. By then everyone will feel scared of driving and start using public transportation.