Motorists see project solution to jams on Kuching-Samarahan expressway
KUCHING: Overwhelming traffic jams can become unbearable and each day brings even more road users and traffic jams that congest the main road from Kota Samarahan to Kuching. At the end of the day, there’s nothing commuters can do about a traffic jam. But the authorities can.
And the light rail transit (LRT) seems to be the most viable answer to the nightmare jams which Samarahan residents are facing daily. Samuel Lim, 23, lives in Kota Samarahan but works as an operator in Petra Jaya here. Every day, except for weekends and public holidays, he has to face the nightmare of commuting from his home to his workplace through traffic jams.
“The traffic jams are really bad from as early as 6.30am, and can last right up to 9am. There are long queues of cars travelling from Kota Samarahan to Tabuan Jaya Road in Kuching,” he said during an interview yesterday.
Samuel is one of the thousands of motorists who have welcomed the recent announcement by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg that the state government would revive the Kuching-Samarahan project following numerous appeals to the government. “Yes, the project will help a lot in terms of reducing the traffic congestion,” he pointed out. Sharing Samuel’s complaint is Zainul, 28, who also lives in Kota Samarahan. And like Samuel, she also works in a private company in Kuching City. She lamented the traffic jams she had to go through, which she described as “terrible from 6.30am to 8.3am and from 5pm to 6.30pm on working days”.
Like Samuel, she too is happy to learn that the LRT project will be revived. “At the moment, there are only two main roads heading to the city; you can use either the Mile 7 Road or the Tabuan Jaya Road but both roads are congested during the peak hours,” she said.
“The LRT can help us save time as we can park our cars at the LRT station and use the LRT to travel to Kuching City. “This is a matter that should not be politicised by some parties as it will benefit hundreds of motorists. “The most important thing is that the LRT will help solve the traffic congestion problem effectively,” she said. Pending the construction of the LRT, Zainul suggested that the local authorities look into the traffic congestion problem immediately and find ways of easing it.
“The implementation of the LRT can surely solve the problem, but for the time being, we need help quickly. We have been suffering from the traffic jams for a very long time,” she added.
• another story on page 4 ( Newspaper )
