The Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) is on the last lap before their attempt to implement the One-Way Loop (OWL). Despite serious concerns being raised by residential, commercial and institutional stakeholders alike in The Star on Sept 18, 2014, MBPJ remains defiant about going ahead with the implementation without having critical components of the system in place.
I am convinced that PJ is not ready for this major change. And I dare say that neither are the stakeholders from the immediate surrounding townships, especially the Federal Highway users who do not routinely enter Petaling Jaya.
From my discourse with the public covering sections 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, and 52, and the some commercial and institutions in PJ New Town, off Jalan Utara and on Jalan 223, my awareness campaign being carried out as late as the evening of Monday Oct 6, 2014, I find that many people are not aware of the OWL, or do not know how the OWL will impact them. Many questions remain unanswered.
There are unanimous urgings for the implementation of OWL to be deferred until MBPJ meets the affected stakeholders and answers their questions satisfactorily.
Among the questions are:
SAFETY - especially relating to
- Weaving of traffic, eg at Jalan Barat, Jalan Utara, Federal Highway interchange at Jalan Utara;
- Pedestrian crossings;
- Pick-up/drop-off areasfor schools.
- Jalan 223;
- Armada Hotel;
- Lorong Utara B (Tun Hussein Onn Eye Hospital, Gurdwara Sahib, etc);
- Asia Jaya LRT station;
- Lorong Utara;
- Jalan /Lorong Produktiviti.
- Convergence of traffic, eg at Jalan Timur and Jalan Pencala roundabouts;
- Traffic intrusion into residential roads, eg Jalan 7/4, Section 12;
- Stop and go traffic due to necessary signalized non-vehicular crossings. Egress/acceleration and merging lanes, eg at Jalan Bukit, Jalan 12/19, Jalan Pantai;
- Alternative routes;
- Bus routes.
- The bulk of traffic on Jalan Utara exits to the Federal Highway, and the Federal Highway feeds a massive volume of traffic into Jalan Utara and Jalan Timur. Has the Malaysian Highway Authority done an impact assessment for this one-way loop system?
- The traffic study consultants concluded that it will take a mere seven minutes to complete the whole loop by car. Please elaborate on the percentage of vehicles travelling around the loop vis-a-vis the traffic which traverses only a part of the loop to exit at the Federal Highway or Jalan Semangat, etc.
- Due to the massive scale of this project, there will be substantial impacts on life and liveability in the city. In line with MBPJ’s charter of being a livable and sustainable city, rate payers expect a traffic impact assessment, Social impact assessment, and environmental impact assessment before the OWL is implemented.
- I have been given to understand that the implementation on Oct 12, 2014 is Phase 1 only, and the full project will be carried out over a number of phases culminating in completion in mid 2016. What does this phase, and each successive phase, entail?
- Is the Malaysian Highway Authority prepared for the OWL in view of the potential impact on traffic on the Federal HIghway?
- By MBPJ’s own admission , approval for realignment of existing bus routes has not been obtained. Is there a guarantee that what is sought will be approved, and what if approval is not forthcoming? Is there any harm to have this resolved and adequate information disseminated to the public before the OWL is implemented?
- How much of the safety features are already in place and when will the rest be functional?
- What are the dangers and inconveniences posed to the public during construction of the safety features?
- The Star published a typical cross-section view of the OWL. This image indicates that the loop will have three lanes for motorised traffic. However, the technical drawings and the graphics in Berita Petaling Jaya say that there should be four lanes. Please explain the discrepancy.
- What are the criteria / evaluation parameters in this trial run?
- Who will be monitoring and evaluating the data from the trial run?
- What constitutes pass or fail?
- What happens if the trial run returns unfavourable information?
- Will there be a trial run for each phase?
I therefore urge our assemblypersons and councillors to do all that is in their power, and urge MBPJ to defer implementation of the OWL until they meet with relevant stakeholders and answer their questions satisfactorily. MBPJ has to chew on humble pie and serve the people instead of their own agenda.
There is no harm in deferring the OWL until the necessary concerns are adequately addressed, and MBPJ has nothing to lose from deferring the implementation of a system which is not needed in the first place.
DAVID FOO is a Petaling Jaya ratepayer.
