KUCHING: Lebuhraya Borneo Utara (LBU) head of technical services Saroj Kumar Lahori said that there is a need for road diversions along the upgraded federal trunk road into a four-lane dual carriageway of Pan Borneo Highway Sarawak.
“As we are upgrading the current federal trunk road into the Pan Borneo Highway, it is not about just widening the road from the existing two lanes into four lanes carriageway. We also have to upgrade the horizontal and vertical curves of the road to smoothen the profile.
“Upgrading the road into an R5 standard from the current R3 standard means the new highway, although most of it still along the existing alignment, will be less winding and curvy to give road users a smooth and straight driving experience,” said Saroj.
Saroj added that in the process of upgrading, diversions of existing traffic to temporary roads for some period becomes mandatory and for ease of understanding, these diversions will not be required when a totally new four-lane road is being constructed where there is no interference of live traffic to cater to.
“At the same time, we also have to construct new culverts and bridges along the way to replace the old ones which most of them have come of age. That is where such road traffic diversions become obligatory to construct. Being on technically intricate locations, these structure elements take a longer time to construct.
“In the widening process, a new culvert or bridge is constructed beside the existing old structure and the existing traffic is diverted to the new diversion. The old structure will be demolished when the new structure built is in place and the diversion reinstated,” said Saroj.
Saroj added that constructing these temporary road diversions takes few weeks as all necessary traffic equipment needs to be installed according to the approved traffic management plan.
“Diversions are only a temporary measure to facilitate your travel, meaning these diversions are not meant to be long lasting. Overloaded lorries which ply along these routes and unscrupulous drivers can damage these diversions. Of course, the wet spell does not help either.
“We ask the public to bear with us during this time. Once the Pan Borneo’s new permanent road or the new culverts are completed, traffic will be channelled from these diversions to the new roads.
“By the beginning of next year, we can expect the first carriageway of the Pan Borneo Highway to be completed, and while we will move on to construct the second carriageway most of these diversions will be gone.
“Motorists by then will be shifted to the first carriageway, and they will have a smooth drive all the way from Sematan to Miri while we work on the second carriageway,” said Saroj.
