The Star Online > Central
Monday April 2, 2012

Solutions for traffic crawl

By TAN KARR WEI
karrwei@thestar.com.my Photo by AZLINA ABDULLAH


MOTORISTS can look forward to a smoother traffic flow at the congested Kewajipan interchange in Subang Jaya and its surrounding areas with several upgrades in the pipeline.

Sunway Group founder and chairman Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah said the company’s engineers had conducted their own studies to find out the best way to solve the congestion problems at the lowest cost.

“If you look at Persiaran Kewajipan, the jam is bad especially during peak hours. The cars are sometimes backed up to the Sime Darby Medical Centre and this is caused by the traffic lights,” said Cheah during an interview at Menara Sunway recently.

Upcoming solution: With the construction of a U-turn at both ends of the Kesas Highway from the Persiaran Kewajipan junction, the four-phase traffic lights will be changed to a two-phase system, allowing for a smoother flow of cars going straight to and from Subang Jaya and USJ.
Also present at the session was Sunway Group property development division chief operating officer Ong Ghee Bin.

When the U-turns are completed, cars from either direction on Persiaran Kewajipan wanting to turn right (either from Subang Jaya towards Klang or from USJ towards Kuala Lumpur) would have to turn into the Kesas Highway and make a U-turn towards their destinations, freeing the interchange for cars going straight (towards USJ or Subang Jaya).

He said the new system could eliminate the back-up of traffic by about 80%, making it more bearable for people living in the area.

The four-phase traffic light junction at Persiaran Kewajipan and the Kesas Highway will be turned into a two-phase system when the two U-turns (one at Jalan Tujuan and another at the Sunway toll plaza) are completed. The upgrading work was announced by Works Minister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor in July last year.

The current population of Sunway itself is more than 200,000 and combined with the population of USJ and Subang Jaya, there is a total of more than half a million people.


“On top of that, each year we get millions of people visiting the Sunway integrated resort alone while the student population in the various colleges and universities in this area is about 60,000,” said Cheah.

He said the group would be investing RM130mil for three major upgrades in the area as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.

“I am very concerned about the traffic jam in the area, especially when people are spending a lot of unproductive time in their cars.

“When I saw what was happening in the area, I wanted to do something that can improve the situation.

“I hope I can inspire more developers to do the same and give back to society,” said Cheah.

The first phase of the upgrade is the Kesas Link, which will provide direct access in and out of Sunway South Quay from the Kesas Highway.

Construction has already started on the RM40mil project which is expected to be completed end of this year.

To further maximise the Kesas Link, an elevated road will be built to connect the Kesas Highway to the New Pantai Expressway. Costing RM70mil, the road will be built above an existing monsoon drain.

With this elevated road, motorists can use the Kesas exit to get to Sunway South Quay or Monash University and they can also cut straight towards the New Pantai Expressway (NPE), head towards Subang Jaya or Sunway Pyramid without having to go through Persiaran Kewajipan or Jalan Lagoon Barat.

“We expect to start construction at the end of 2013,” said Cheah.

The other upgrade under the Sunway Group CSR project is the widening of the road along the NPE from Sunway Pyramid all the way to the Persiaran Kewajipan junction.

“Right now, there is a bottleneck at the Kewajipan roundabout because there is only one lane for cars that are making a U-turn, and those going into the roundabout.

“We’re going to widen the road and we currently have approval to add two lanes so that there will be a dedicated road each for cars making a U-turn, going into the roundabout and making a left turn towards Summit. We are hoping for approval for a third lane,” he said.

Costing RM20mil, the road widening works will start around June this year and take about 18 months to complete.

Cheah said they were also proposing to build a roundabout at Taman Desaria so that there would be smoother flow for motorists along the NPE (from Sunway) who wanti to make a U-turn, instead of having to wait at the current traffic lights. However, he said, the company was still waiting for approval to build the roundabout.

All three upgrading works are expected to be completed by 2015.



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