holey baloney

16? 16!!!! Yes you heard me right. SIXTEEN!

The expressway is only 12 kilometres for goodness sake! It equates to 1 ERP gantry for every 750m! And all this before the opening of the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE)?

According to Teo Ser Luck, it’s for the safety of the drivers, especially in the underground tunnels. In case of emergency accidents or fires or whatever, help can be rendered quickly. Okay. Fair enough. But 16? How smooth do you want the roads to be? Empty?

Honestly, I agree to having some form of fees collecting to ease some congestion. Keyword here being some. In typical Singaporean fashion, we’ve outdone ourselves again. In extremity. We don’t know where to stop, all we do know, is how to put in more, more and constantly more. Implement an idea, wait for x months, sees little result, decides more is needed. Implement another idea, wait for x months, see no result, decides more is needed. Implement another idea, wait for x months, see good result, decides more is needed. Get the pattern? Doesn’t it seem like almost all our policies have this lifecycle?

Source: TODAYonline

16 gantries on KPE for safety
Congestion can exacerbate risks in long tunnels: Teo

Tan Hui Leng (huileng@mediacorp.com.sg)

WHEN it opens on Sept 20, the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) will have 16 new Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries along its 12 kilometres, of which 9km are underground.

This is because congestion in long underground tunnels poses safety concerns, said Mr Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary of Transport.

Responding to a question from Mr Baey Yam Keng (MP, Tanjong Pagar GRC) on the installation of the ERP gantries even before the KPE (picture) is fully operational, Mr Teo said they are part of the infrastructure of the expressway to ensure that authorities “can act in a timely manner to prevent congestion from building up so as to enhance the safety of motorists.”

“Incidents occurring in long underground tunnels are more dangerous than if they occur on surface roads … If it involves a fire, vehicles in the tunnel may be trapped and the severity of the incident will multiply manifold if there is traffic congestion in there,” he said.

This rationale, he explained, is “unique” to the KPE due to safety concerns and is not applied to arterial roads or other expressways on the surface.

But there are no plans for now to set up ERP gantries in the underground portion of the Central Expressway, as it does not pose as much of a safety risk as the KPE.

However, they will be installed and activated if the safety situation changes or travel speeds fall below the threshold level of 45kph, Mr Teo said.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa (MP, Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) asked why it was necessary to impose ERP charges on Saturdays, and if there was a need to extend the cordoning strategy to Saturdays as well.

Mr Teo replied that in the Bugis-Marina Centre Cordon, for which Saturday ERP was implemented in July, the volume of traffic has since fallen by about 20 per cent on average and travelling speeds raised by more than 20kph.

And since the implementation at the Orchard Cordon in October 2005, the number of vehicles using the Orchard area as a by-pass route has fallen from 30 to 20 per cent, he added.

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