Heavy congestion fills the outbound lanes on the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road near the former Cikarang Utama toll gate, as seen around 11:00 a.m. on Thursday (30/5/2019).
Congestion on the Trans-Java toll road is expected to be settled with traffic engineering. To anticipate traffic congestion on Friday (31/5/2019), the government implemented the one-way traffic control system earlier.
CIKAMPEK, KOMPAS — Congestion that occurred on the Trans-Java toll road on Thursday (30/5/2019), among others, was triggered by queues at the toll gates and rest areas. The congestion was resolved with a number of traffic engineering. The government, for example, imposed the one-way traffic control system three hours earlier on Friday (31/5/2019) to anticipate the volume of vehicles predicted to remain high.
Chief of the Traffic Corps of the National Police Insp. Gen. Refdi Andri said that the one-way system implementation was initially scheduled to begin at 6:00 a.m. on Friday. Refdi said that the extension of the one-way system time could also be carried out according to conditions in the field.
"During 12 hours of the one-way system implementation (on Thursday), there were no significant traffic jams. If there was a traffic jam, we would take other steps which were formulated according to the conditions," Refdi said Thursday (30/5) night in Cikarang Utama, Bekasi.
The certainty that the one-way system was applied earlier on Friday was also disclosed by General Manager of state toll road management company PT Jasa Marga (Persero) Tbk Raddy D Lukman. According to Raddy, the one-way system on the Trans-Java toll road started at 6:00 a.m. or three hours earlier than the schedule. The one way system is still implemented from Kilometer Market (KM) 70 in Cikampek (West Java) to KM 263 in Brebes (Central Java).
A contraflow system was also applied earlier from 5:30 a.m. from KM 29 to KM 61.
In Jakarta, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said that the peak of mudik (exodus), which was predicted to occur on Friday or 5 five days before the Idul Fitri celebration, would still be anticipated. The format of the one-way and contraflow systems will flexibly be applied starting from KM 29. The congestion that occurred on Thursday was studied as inputs to manage the traffic on Friday.
On Thursday, the police had implemented the one-way system an hour earlier, at 08:00 a.m. because the traffic jam on the Trans-Java toll road had been going on since early morning. Based on Kompas observation, the congestion that occurred on Thursday was caused by queues at the Palimanan toll gate, Cikampek toll gate, and a resting place at KM 19.
In addition to implementing the one-way system earlier, Director General of Land Transportation of the Transportation Ministry Budi Setyadi said that the number of lanes for the contraflow system was also added from one lane to two lanes for vehicles from Jakarta to the east.
Referring to PT Jasa Marga\'s data, the volume of vehicles on Thursday at from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the Cikampek toll gate reached 23,948 vehicles, far higher than the volume on normal days on the same period of 9,066 units.
Takim, 43, a traveler from Tangerang, said that the congestion on the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road had occurred since Wednesday (29/5) night. Takim departed from his home in Cikupa, Tangerang, on
Wednesday around 9:30 p.m. by passing the toll road. However, due to the congestion, he was only able to arrive at the former Cikarang toll gate on the Jakarta-Cikampek KM 29 Toll on Thursday at 2:00 a.m.
Pantura
On the northern coast of Java, traffic was quite crowded and was dominated by motorcycle travelers. Most travelers chose to pass through the northern coastal highway at night. "In the afternoon, the condition is denser because of the many local residents doing their daily activites," said Bobi, 36, a traveler from Jakarta with the destination of Pekalongan.
To reduce the number of motorbike travelers, the government intensively provided free transport service programs. One of them is provided by the state-owned Enterprises (BUMN) through the Mudik Bareng program where 250,474 travelers were transported by bus, ship, train and airplane.
"Hopefully next year the number of BUMNs to be involved will increase so that more and more people will take part in this free mudik transport service," said BUMN Minister Rini Soemarno when witnessing the departure of participants from the BUMN mudik program at Gelora Bung Karno, Jakarta.
Queuing in Merak
At Merak Port, Banten, on Thursday, travelers, who wanted to cross to Bakauheni, Lampung, were dominated by those traveling by car and bus. The passengers of the car were forced to wait up to four hours to queue into the ferry.
Referring to data on river, lake and ferry transportation (ASDP), 78,084 passengers and 14,278 vehicles crossed from Merak Port on Thursday (30/5) from 08:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. This number almost doubled compared to Wednesday (29/5) in the same period, with 37,611 passengers and 7,279 vehicles.
For those who want to ask about the current situation of mudik travel and backflow during Lebaran and coverage of the Mudik Gesit 2019 Kompas Gramedia, they are invited to contact Radio Sonora\'s hotline service at 021-63869200 or via Whatsapp 08121229200 and Twitter account @ SonoraFM92. (HRS/SKA/FRD/TAM/DVD/XTI/AIN/DIV/NSA)
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