Typically when a highway widening project to add more lanes is announced, public transport advocates rush to come forward to criticise it, saying adding lanes are pointless.
Inevitably there will be a flurry of “one more lane will fix it” memes images posted over social media everywhere until they forget about it and go about poking fun at the next flavour of the week.
However, there are still significant stretches of interstate highways in Malaysia that are still two lanes, and if you’ve driven on these sections before and gotten stuck behind a scenario where a turtle is attempting to overtake a slug with two huge trailers, you’ll be wishing for a third lane instead.
In areas with high traffic volume especially with slow-moving heavy vehicles in hilly areas, two-lane highways can become congested easily, leading to delays and traffic jams. Adding an extra lane helps distribute traffic more evenly and can improve the flow of vehicles, reducing congestion and travel times.
Improved Safety
Three-lane highways also offer improved safety compared to two-lane highways. The extra lane allows for greater separation between vehicles, reducing the likelihood of collisions and providing more space for drivers to maneuver. The increased space also allows for easier lane changes, reducing the risk of accidents caused by sudden maneuvers.
Lane Differentiation
Three lanes also provide more flexibility for traffic management. With three lanes, it becomes possible to designate a specific lane for slower-moving vehicles, such as trucks or vehicles entering/exiting the highway, while leaving the other lanes for regular traffic.
This separation helps maintain a smoother flow of vehicles and reduces the chances of accidents caused by speed differentials.
Overtaking and Merge Zones
Having three lanes facilitates safer overtaking maneuvers. The additional lane provides a dedicated space for vehicles to pass slower-moving traffic, reducing the need for risky maneuvers that can endanger both drivers and passengers.
Additionally, merge zones at on-ramps and off-ramps become more manageable with three lanes, as vehicles have an extra lane to merge into or exit from, reducing congestion and potential conflicts.
Emergency Situations
In the event of an accident or breakdown, three lanes offer more space for emergency vehicles and roadside assistance to operate efficiently without significantly disrupting the flow of traffic. This can improve response times and minimize the impact on overall highway operations.
Imagine a two-lane highway with one lane completely blocked due to a trailer that has broken down. How long will the resulting jam be?
Public transport advocates often emphasize the need for a holistic approach that includes investment in public transportation infrastructure, promotion of sustainable modes of transportation, and consideration of long-term environmental impacts.
However, balancing the needs of both private vehicles and public transportation is crucial for creating a comprehensive and efficient transportation network.
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Ride Sharing should be promoted,
More Green, less pollution.
No need battery car worry like range anxiety, battery pollution, aging and fire risk.
https://paultan.org/2017/02/16/grabshare-launched-in-malaysia-on-demand-carpooling-max-four-to-a-car-30-lower-fares/
But have to make sure, no roadside hogging too.
Many car aged and badly care jam the road, rosak suffering everyone.
PLUS highway was way more smootherer during madey kroni Halim saad’s RENONG reign as the hiway owner.
Expressway was premium route, those were the days commercial vehicles buses lorries could only afford to travel via toll-free Federal Route.
Increase fuel price
Increase toll price
Increase vehicle price
Increase public transport
Lower flight fare
Lower train fare
Lower bus fare
Problem solved
Increase fuel price and lower flight ,train ,bus fair ? Your employer must be proud that thwy have an employee like u
So u saying a time machine will fix our problems? Why didn’t anyone think of that!
What about improving public transportation that cars become optional? Ohwai that was under Ahjibkor which we abandon…
#AhjibkorBack
This is why I don’t like driving.
Bigger car pagi suffering lack of parking space to sumbat.
Just hope the 2023 launched DRT can rapidly grow to my Kajang House to office area.
some people already using RapidKL Demand Responsive Transit DRT.
https://paultan.org/2023/05/15/rapid-kl-announces-new-demand-responsive-transit-drt-shuttle-van-lrt-universiti-to-um-rm1-via-trek/
PLUS, when can make 3 lanes along north south highway? It must be the whole stretch of that highway. Concession has been extended, so there must be a plan to built 3 lanes hiway. Start with north-south hiway, then LPT since PLUS have big portion in LPT too.
they will do, but the width of the lane will significantly reduce, and some part will have little or no emergency lane
Yours humbly was working in one of the Plus subsidiaries.
During the Renong heydays,everything was feverishly rushed..cos there r so many contractors involved from JB to Padang besar.
So.there is no forward 50 year planning.It is a 2/3 lane highway which quickly became congested during peak holidays n long weekends,where u pay toll to get jammed!!!
The stupidity is evident,after 20 years…jams start becoming a norm.
In Bolehland,as long as cronies can party all night long at 7 star hotels,there is no need for 50 years planning.
Anwar’s germen is just to do damage control.
Wow, a rare masterpiece by Harvi, not the usual ads. Agreed with what’s written. Write more, pls!
chatGPT is your best friend
This!! I agree with. Having to often commute KL-Penang by car is a pain starting Slim River all the way to Penang. Especially around Gua Tempurung and after Menora Tunnel where 18 wheelers moving at walking pace, only to be overtaken by a family car moving at… also walking pace.
I always use the federal route from Slim River to Sungkai & Bidor. 2 lanes all the way with some traffic light. Always fun to watch the heavy traffic on the paid road, from a clear free road
There are a lot of statements here with no evidence cited to back them up. The argument seems to simply be more lanes = better. Three-lane highways get plenty congested too. So the answer then is four lanes, then five?
the author argue for 3 only
dont twist and turn and talk about 4 and 5
Not like it would make a difference. We are up to how many now at sg. Buloh? 5? 6? And still jam.
Regardless of how many lanes you make, as long as the bottlenecks are not addressed , jams will persist.
At the simpang pulai to tapah section, they added a lane but sacrificed the emergency lane. But traffic remains clogged up by the time you reach tapah which is 2 lanes.They are not widening the highway..just repurposing lanes.
How would loosing the e-lane increase safety? Now you are basically forcing motorcyclist to filter through lanes instead of just using the shoulder. And disabled vehicles and emergency vehicles now have no where to park or pass.
No point la.. lots of ppl still like to use right most lane and left lanes are deserted
Improved Safety – this is not entirely true, people are more willing to drive faster on wider roads that’s why certain residential roads are designed to be narrower on purpose. Everyone knows if they are alone on a 4 lane road, they are more willing to put their foot down. Risk of fatalities happen more often at higher speeds. I can’t find any statistic out there that says adding more lanes equates to lower fatalities.
Lane Differentiation – this is true, I agree, but your article is defending adding more lanes, or are you saying 2 – 3 lanes supposed to be sufficient?
Overtaking and Merge Zones – this can be done on a single lane road as long as there is enough runoff and merging points. You don’t need a 3 plus lane highway to achieve a smooth merging zone.
Emergency Situations, you only need 1 emergency lane for this. (also your point about what if a trailer is blocked because it was broken down) We have seen trailers crash and block 3 – 4 lane highways as well. So we need every road the width of a trailer to accommodate the possibility of a trailer blocking every road? No we just go around them.
Finally the whole one more lane meme is referring to traffic jams. They are referring to how cities keep adding lanes assuming it will resolve traffic jams when all it does is cause even worse traffic jams.
If adding 1 more lane works. How many lanes do we need to eliminate traffic jams? Why are the worlds worst traffic jams always on roads with 10 plus lanes? (Katy freeway, and the highway in the meme from China)
Not gonna pretend like i’m an expert, but I’d suggest the author to read up on what induced demand is.
just another delusional guy falling prey to the nirvana fallacy, looking for the perfect solution
public transit>>>>>>>>>
From Penang to Ipoh stretch, NSE should be widened to 3 lanes. From Port Dickson (entering to NSE) to Nilai, additional lane must be added and permanent divider must be erected at the entering stretch to reduce line hogging amd traffic bottleneck that can cause 1hr delay starting from Rantau to Port Dickson every weekend and 2hr during long holiday. Nothing has been done after GE14 and GE15.
Ever heard of diminishing returns?
thats why from 2 to 3 saja
We are adding 600,000+ vehicles onto the road system every year, no vehicles are being taken out compulsorily. You can keep adding lanes, they will be congested in no time…
how many drivers do we add into the system? why count cars? if i buy a second car i drive both out everyday?
I hope the OP gave up driving to not be part of the problem ;-)
If more companies can be flexible enough to allow a work-from-home schedule of may be twice or 3 times a week, there should less people on the road traveling to & from work.
Three is the maximum. Beyond that is just a waste of taxpayers’ money.
Just look at NKVE Damansara-Subang 4-lane stretch. 8/10 drivers there don’t even know which lane to use. Last2 all of them hogging the two right lanes.
Sure adding 1 more lane to high frequent congested road does somewhat reduces the traffic jam but not going to solve it. Some highways do urgently need additional lane like PLUS.
To further alleviate this issue gov need to move capital state to other state every 10-15 years. Don’t just sit on your ass developing KL & Selangor only.
Let other state develop extensively as a capital state. After the move, build national house scheme around/nearest to the city and 3rd party developers take the farthest. Prioritize public transport such as train & bus at the city. Of course build it with proper infra.
All of the above should make more people stays at their own home state rather travelling & flocking to certain congested state.
Fact is, those people taking our toll money and managing our highways cannot be bothered unless gomen tells them to do something.
Owner of plus is our EPF. Workers money.
During najib era, najib sold plus to epf for RM20 bil. And it seems, epf is happy with that investment as toll goes up 10% every three years unless gomen subsidised it.
Halim Saad made a counter proposal for same amount with no toll increase but was rejected. As i recall it. Who knows why.
Public transport costs tons of money to build and operate. Our klang valley mrt’s alone costs nearly RM100 bil when completed. It is only effective in very densely populated areas. At RM50 per commuter per month, i cannot see how klang valley mrt can make money. If you take the mrt, the tracks are empty 95% of the time. And building the tracks is the most costly part. Highways on the other hand, are packed. So it is widely used.
Increase speed limit la. And penalize road hoggers (middle and right lane)
our human capacity to NOT learn is truly amazing! as if adding extra lane to a 2-way lane road will help much.. facepalm
Increasing the number of lanes (after 3?) to improve traffic is like changing to a bigger belt to solve obesity