PLUS Malaysia (PLUS) will temporarily open up several stretches of highway at the current fourth lane widening project areas to facilitate smoother traffic flow on the North-South Expressway (NSE) and the New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) this coming Hari Raya (Eid) holidays.
The highway stretches are: KM16.3 – KM14.7 (southbound) between Damansara and Subang, KM13.3 – KM9.65 (southbound) between Subang and Shah Alam, KM25.0 – KM28.5 (southbound) between DBKL arch and the Segambut Bridge, KM445.26 – KM447.63 (southbound) between Rawang Interchange and Rawang Selatan, KM282.2 – KM280.4 (southbound) between Bandar Baru Nilai and the Recron factory and KM280.4 – KM268.6 (southbound) between the Recron factory and the New Seremban Interchange.
PLUS Managing Director, Dato’ Noorizah Hj Abd Hamid said, ”These critical stretches will be temporarily opened starting from 23 July. It is aimed at facilitating smoother traffic flow as well as distributing traffic during the holidays.”
PLUS also anticipates the traffic on the NSE to increase by 25% to 1.5 million vehicles per day on the peak days which are 25 to 27 July and 1 to 3 August as compared to 1.2 million vehicles every day on normal days.
“As such, PLUS urges members of the public to plan their balik kampung (returning home) travel for Hari Raya based on our travel time advisory (TTA) which has proven to have contributed to smoother traffic flow during peak periods in the past,” Noorizah added.
The TTA lists recommended staggered travel times for various destinations from the Klang Valley to major states and cities in Kedah, Perlis, Penang, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Johor and to Singapore. It is aimed at distributing traffic and reducing congestion on the mainline, major toll plazas, rest areas and lay-bys during peak periods.
“This time, the TTA provides travelling times for the public plying the NSE between 25 and 27 July (for balik kampung journey) and between 1 and 3 August (for balik kerja journey). Based on the TTA, those heading towards farther destinations are advised to leave the Klang Valley earlier, while those heading towards destinations that are nearer to the Klang Valley are advised to enter the highway at later hours,” Noorizah added.
Noorizah was quoted at a media briefing to highlight preparations and initiatives that will be taken by PLUS in coping with the traffic increase during the Hari Raya holidays at Persada PLUS.
Apart from temporarily opening up several critical stretches at the 4th lane widening project and issuing the TTA, other new additional initiatives include the introduction of the PLUS Traffic Portal to disseminate the latest highway traffic information and the deployment of motorcycle patrolling teams for the existing highway mobile workshop service, Workshop on Wheels at strategic locations on the highway.
Other routine preparations include stationing additional staff and opening up more toll counters at toll plazas to facilitate faster toll transaction, increasing the number of PLUSRonda teams and so on.