BANDAR LAMPUNG, KOMPAS— For travelers in Sumatra, the Sumatra East Route is an alternative to the toll road. However, some damaged sections of the road force vehicles to slow down, disrupting the flow of traffic. Repair work is ongoing in a race against time ahead of the Idul Fitri holiday season.
On a trip from Bakauheni to Palembang last week, reporters observed severe damage in several places from Menggala in Tulang Bawang regency to the regency of Mesuji in Lampung. Damage was also seen on the section from Mesuji to Ogan Komering Ilir regency in South Sumatra, as well as on the way from Palembang, South Sumatra, toward Jambi province.
The director general of the Bina Marga road agency at the Public Works and Housing Ministry, Sugiartanto, said his office had deployed workers to eastern Sumatra to fill potholes with asphalt. Last-minute repair work was being carried out, so that travelers could use the route starting 10 days before Idul Fitri, or D-10.
"The potholes were repaired first and, importantly, travelers can use it," Sugiartanto said in Jakarta on Monday (20/5/2019). He was speaking after a discussion titled "Safe, Comfortable and Smooth Mudik", with the last word referring to the Idul Fitri travel season.
Drivers will be diverted to the Sumatra East Route (Jalintim) if the toll road is choked with traffic. To support operations on the Bakauheni-Terbanggi Besar toll road section, the Terbanggi Besar-Palembang trans-Sumatra toll road will be opened temporarily starting on May 29, or 7 days before Idul Fitri.
According to Sugiartanto, improvements on the Jalintim can only be done in a patchwork manner, because major construction work on the road is still ongoing.
Palembang National Road Management Agency (BPJN) head Saiful Anwar said that, before the repair work began, around 2,500 potholes of varying depth were recorded along Jalintim in South Sumatra. The ongoing repairs have reduced the number of potholes to around 600 at present. The target is to undo 80 percent of the damage by D-10.
Many of the potholes on the Jalintim, according to Sugiartanto, were caused by trucks with loads exceeding the allowed weight, and poor drainage has exacerbated the damage, as water often covers the road for long periods of time.
Bandar Lampung National Road Management Agency head Muh Insal U Maha explained that the repair effort was focused on the 80-kilometer segment from Bujung Tenuk (Tawang Bawang) to Simpang Pematang (Mesuji). Thirty-six km of this section were under repair.In Bumi Agung village, Lempuing district, Ogan Komering Ilir regency, South Sumatra, about 3 km of the Jalintim is damaged. Bumi Agung resident Ayut, 42, said the road had been damaged for about five months but repair work had only begun recently.
Traffic jams
Apart from road damage, street sellers on the roadside also cause traffic jams on the route. On the South Sumatra section of the Jalintim, there are at least four markets with activities often taking place on the roadside, namely the markets of Meranjat, Simpang Indralaya, Betung and Bayung Lincir.
Last weekend, the travel speed of vehicles on the Jalintim averaged 50 km per hour, while on the trans-Sumatra toll road the average speed was 100 km per hour. The same slow speeds were seen on the Jalintim section from Palembang toward the border of Jambi.
Under current road conditions, traveling the route takes around 12 hours. Under good road conditions, meanwhile, the travel time could be cut to 5-7 hours. Getting from Bakauheni to Palembang, for example, takes 14 hours on the Jalintim route but only around seven hours on the toll road.
Separately, Astra Infra Group Toll Road Business Group CEO Krist Ade Sudiyono noted a strong preference for the toll road among the public. Therefore, the authorities should assess conditions on each segment of the toll road, because each segment had its own characteristics. (RAM/AIN/IRE/VIO/NAD)