Traffic jams for dozens of hours color the return flow of Eid 2024

The peak return flow is expected on Monday (15/4) evening. As many as 48 percent of travelers on the Trans Java Toll Road have not returned.

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

The traffic flow on the return lane of vehicles is congested on Cikampek Toll Road at Km 59, in Karawang Regency, West Java, on Sunday (14/4/2024) at 11:30 AM.

PURWAKARTA, KOMPAS – Traffic jams occurred at the peak of reverse flow Monday (15/4/2024). Long traffic jams occurred from the Cikopo-Palimanan to Jakarta-Cikampek toll road. Vehicle volume has increased rapidly since Monday afternoon at around 11.00.

Kompas also felt the density when driving from Kilometer (Km) 72 of the Cikopo-Palimanan Toll Road to the Cikampek Utama Toll Gate, Purwakarta, West Java, Monday afternoon. Vehicles can only go a maximum of 20 km per hour.

Traffic congestion has caused some residents to move out of lanes and choose to rest on the roadside or on empty land along the toll road. Meanwhile, in the toll area, several food and beverage vendors even sell their products on the highway.

KOMPAS/STEFANUS ATO

Traffic flow at KM 70 of the Jakarta-Cikampek Toll Road, Purwakarta, West Jakarta, was heavy, on Monday (15/4/2024) afternoon.

Traffic congestion conditions became increasingly dense on Monday at 19.00. Traffic at Km 70 of the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road barely moved. The toll road section that implements contraflow traffic engineering is unable to reduce traffic congestion towards Jakarta.

Stuck for dozens of hours

The story of being stuck in a traffic jam for up to a dozen hours during peak backflow occurred from Sunday (14/4) to Monday (15/4). Wienda (46), a resident of Pancoran, South Jakarta, was stuck in traffic jam for 17 hours when returning from his village in Solo, Central Java, on Sunday afternoon.

"I left Solo at 12.00 noon and only arrived in Jakarta at 05.00 the next day," he said.

According to Wienda, when he returned from his hometown, he first got stuck in traffic at Km 469 of the Solo-Semarang toll road. Congestion was experienced before entering the one-way route on Sunday at 13.22.

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

The traffic flow on the return lane of vehicles is congested on Cikampek Toll Road at Km 59, in Karawang Regency, West Java, on Sunday (14/4/2024) at 11:30 AM.

The traffic jam experienced by Wienda is said to be due to the impact of one way. In Semarang, Central Java, when going to GT Kalikangkung, they should go straight to the left. However, because of this policy, he was directed to Demak first.

"Indeed, we will meet in Kalikangkung too. However, because of this system, there will be a meeting of vehicles from the direction of Demak and Solo," he said.

Also read: Tonight the return flow peaks, residents are advised to postpone their return home to avoid traffic jams

Wienda's traffic congestion was slightly relieved and she was able to continue driving at a speed of up to 100 km per hour after passing the Kalikangkung toll gate until Km 100 of the Trans-Java Toll Road in Subang, West Java. The traffic speed that reached 100 km per hour drastically changed when they arrived at Km98.

"At kilometer 98, the traffic started to slow down. We were stuck in a jam until kilometer 41 of the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road. The congestion started at 11 pm and we only arrived home at 5 am," he said.

Wienda already knew that her travel schedule on Sunday afternoon was during the peak of the return flow. However, she did not predict that it would cause such severe congestion.

"We had actually anticipated it by leaving earlier in the day. It turns out, in fact, in Cikampek Utama, especially the contraflow lane, which we didn't predict would be trapped like that," he said.

Exceeds reasonable limits

Regarding the traffic density on Sunday night, the Minister of Transportation, Budi Karya Sumadi, said that the traffic density on Sunday night also felt terrible. This is because the degree of traffic saturation (V/C ratio) on toll roads is more than standard, namely reaching 0.8. In fact, the maximum toll road V/C ratio is 0.7.

"So, we are informing and giving an alarm to people who are going home today. So, with a V/C ratio of 0.8, if you don't want to be in traffic jams, wait one day. At that time, "The V/C ratio may be less," said Budi.

According to Budi, today, Monday, is the peak of the return flow of traffic. According to Jasa Marga's calculations, the volume of vehicles entering Jabodetabek will be higher than on Sunday (14/4) night, reaching up to 120,000 vehicles.

"What was announced yesterday by the government, the President's decision to tolerate work form home (WFH) for state civil servants (ASN), please take advantage of it. The hope is that if this is utilized, tonight the density will not be maximum," said Budi, after Coordinating the Evaluation of Homecoming and Return Flow Handling Lebaran 2024, at Km 70 of the Jakarta-Cikampek Toll Road.

KOMPAS/ALBERTUS KRISNA

Minister of Human Development and Culture Coordination Muhadjir Effendy, National Police Chief General (Pol) Listyo Sigit Prabowo, Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces General Agus Subiyanto, Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi, and President Director of Jasa Marga Subakti Syukur, inspected the return traffic at KM 70 of the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road on Monday (15/4/2024) afternoon.

The coordination meeting was attended by the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Muhadjir Effendy, the Chief of Police (Pol), Listyo Sigit Prabowo, the Commander of the Armed Forces, General Agus Subiyanto, and the President Director of Jasa Marga, Subakti Syukur.

Meanwhile, the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Muhadjir Effendy, said that the implementation of securing homecoming traffic and Eid al-Fitr 2024 was better than 2023. "Ideally it would be zero acidity, but that has not been achieved for the current conditions. However, compared to last year, the average number of accidents, deaths and also the amount of compensation issued has decreased significantly," he said.

Prepare the arteries

As for the Indonesian National Police (Polri), they will anticipate the potential traffic congestion on the Trans-Java Toll Road by preparing several arterial road sections. These routes include in Cikarang, Bekasi Regency, and Karawang Barat, Karawang Regency.

"We have carefully considered all of this. If possible, we will remove some vehicles from the Trans-Java Toll Road to arterial roads," said National Police Chief General (Pol) Listyo Sigit Prabowo.

Jasa Marga's CEO, Subakti Syukur, stated that the volume of traffic returning to Jakarta during the Eid al-Fitr period from H+1 to H+3 (10-14 April 2024) through the 4 main toll gates, namely GT Cikampek Utama, GT Kalihurip Utama, GT Ciawi, and GT Cikupa, reached 961,000 vehicles. This figure is equivalent to 52 percent of the total predicted 1.87 million vehicles that will return to Jabotabek during the H1 to H+7 period (10-18 April 2024).

"We estimate that there are still around 907,000 vehicles that have not returned to Jabotabek or around 48 percent," said Subakti.