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Resolving traffic congestion on Sg Tapan/Kuching Central

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Lee (right), Wee (second right) examines the traffic condition.

KUCHING: A Special Traffic Task Force under the state Ministry of Transport has come up with five interim and long-term measures to overcome the traffic congestion at the Sg Tapang/Kuching Central area.

Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin noted that the public have been complaining about the traffic congestion at the Airport Road opposite the regional bus terminal at Kuching Central as many motorists were avoiding the Penrissen Road due to the construction of flyovers at Mile 8 and Mile 6, resorting to using Sg. Tapang leading to the Kuching Ranger Depot Road as a shortcut to Kuching City via the Airport Road.

“Arising from the complaints and feedback received from the public, the ministry has taken the initiative to call for a meeting on Dec 4 with all the relevant agencies to deliberate on the issue and solution which led to the establishment of a Special Traffic Task Force on Sg. Tapang/Kuching Central headed by a traffic management team from the ministry.

“The task force convened at the site on Dec 7 and concluded that a U-Turn along Airport Road less than 100 metres from the egress (exit) of Kuching Ranger Depot Road is not feasible due to the design speed of Kuching Airport Road that does not allow for deceleration as the traffic travel towards Kuching Central,” he said today.

Instead, he pointed out that the task force recommended stationing a traffic warden or police traffic officers during peak hours to control and manage motorists at the T-Junction of Kuching Ranger Depot Road/Kuching Airport Road to control the traffic flow and allow vehicles exiting from Kuching Ranger Depot Road until the completion of the proposed slip road.

“The traffic police will deploy its officers from Dec 14 during weekdays to regulate and ease the flow of traffic especially for those heading U-turn at the junction of Kuching/Penrissen Road and Airport Road,” he elaborated.

The second recommendation was to convert one of the four lanes from Serian to Kuching at the Kuching Airport Junction as a temporary road protected by concrete barriers to ensure an uninterrupted traffic flow from Serian to Kuching.

The task force also suggested the authority to construct a slip road by-passing the main road to facilitate smooth traffic flow from Serian towards Kuching through Mile 4.

“Apart from that, the task force suggested to construct a link road from Sg Tapang to the new approved road at Samarahan (new inner ring road) to reduce the traffic volume as people could travel from this location to Kuching city.

“With the construction of this road, it is anticipated that traffic will disperse as those who live towards Samarahan side will use the most convenient route i.e. the new inner ring road, without having to make the journey to Kuching through Kuching Airport.

“The tender for this project is expected to be called beginning of next year and funding (federal funded) for this project is available,” he announced.

Lee also said that the task force had recommended re-designing Kuching Ranger Depot Road as a T-Junction and installing smart traffic lights to regulate the traffic flow.

“However, a detailed study is required to conduct a traffic count and investigate the existing utilities on the affected alignment. This information is necessary to justify the proposal,” Lee stressed.

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