SIBU, Oct 27: A flyover needs to be built at the junction of Jalan Ling Kai Cheng and Jalan Ulu Sg Merah to ease traffic congestion in the area.
Parti Bumi Kenyalang secretary-general Priscilla Lau in a statement said a flyover is needed so that the thousands of families living in the vicinity have an alternate and more convenient route out of the congestion that they are facing every day.
“I lived there since the year 2000 when the Wonderful Supermarket area was still a jungle and there were not many houses then. Today Jalan Ulu Sg Merah is bustling with thousands of houses and young families who have moved to that area to make a home,” she said.
Lau added that Jalan Ulu Sg Merah is the only road to connect the thousands of houses to the main roads of Jalan Ling Kai Cheng and beyond.
“Driving along that road in the early morning to send my children to primary school in those years were horrific as we had to get up before 6am to start driving by 6.20am so as to reach Methodist Primary school at 6.45am. That was when houses were sparsely developed further into Jalan Ulu Sg Merah,” she recalled.
She also had to rush home and leave the office by 4pm, otherwise she would be caught in long traffic jams lasting hours.
The traffic congestion problem there, she opined, has worsened as the number of houses in the area have since doubled.
She asserted that the recent conversion of the roundabout to a traffic light junction has been counterproductive as rather than aid traffic flow, it has made it worse.
Lau opined that it is hazardous and dangerous to live beyond the Jalan Ulu Sg Merah-Jalan Ling Kai Cheng junction because in the event of an emergency there is only the one road in Jalan Ulu Sg Merah to use.
Moreover Jalan Ulu Sg Merah is a single lane road each way and is prone to flooding.
“That area should be top of the list of the GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) government’s development plan. Urgent planning and concrete flyover plans must be put in place ” she added. — DayakDaily
