One-Way Traffic Control System Extended

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Passengers prepare to enter the Brantas train at Pasar Senen Station, Jakarta, Sunday (2/6/2019). Three days before Lebaran, Pasar Senen Station was still crowded with people planning to travel to a number of cities in Central and East Java. To accommodate the increase in passengers, state railway company PT KAI is operating additional trains.

CIREBON, KOMPAS — The National Traffic Police Corps has decided to extend its one-way traffic control system on the trans-Java toll road until Monday (3/6/2019) or two days before Idul Fitri. The move was made to anticipate traffic jams on the toll road.

At first, the police had announced that the one-way system would be in place between May 30 and June 2, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. However, the one-way system was eventually extended under consideration of traffic density.

“[June 2] should have been the last day for the one-way system but this was not non-negotiable as everything depends on conditions on the field,” National Traffic Police chief Insp. Gen. Refdi Andri said at the Palimanan toll gate on Kilometer Marker (KM) 188 of the trans-Java toll road in Cirebon, West Java, on Sunday (2/6) afternoon.

National Traffic Police operational division head Sr. Comr. Benyamin said that the one-way system would remain in place on the toll road on this Monday (3/6), starting from 6 a.m.

The trans-Java toll road between Cikampek Utama toll gate at KM 70 and Kalikangkung toll gate at KM 414 in Semarang will be affected.

Benyamin said that 250,000 more vehicles would go through Cikampek. “We will see how it is on Monday. If traffic begins to decrease at noon, we will end the one-way system and normal, two-way traffic will resume,” he explained.

Refdi said that the implementation of the one-way system would depend on conditions on the toll road. At first, the police had announced that the system would be in place from KM 70 in Cikampek, West Java, to KM 263 in Brebes, Central Java.

However, on Saturday (1/6), the system was extended to KM 414 in Semarang as traffic began to jam at several spots, including at the Palimanan toll gate and the West Brebes Interchange. Furthermore, the system was also implemented earlier in the day, from originally 9 a.m. to 6 a.m.

Other than extending the one-way system, the police also prepares other plans to anticipate further traffic jams, including optimizing toll transaction gates, including Palimanan and Cikampek Utama toll gates, and diverting traffic to regular or non-toll roads.

Monitoring

The Transportation Ministry’s land transportation director general, Budi Setyadi, said the authorities would continue to monitor toll road traffic density on Monday. In the past few days, traffic jams continued well past midnight due to long queues at rest areas, among other causes.

Data from state toll road operator PT Jasa Marga shows that 29,532 vehicles went through Cikampek Utama 1 toll gate on Sunday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. This was lower than the 30,852 vehicles in the same period on Saturday (1/6). On regular days, 8,416 vehicles went through the toll gate in the same period.

The Cikampek-Palimanan section saw the highest number of vehicles on Saturday, at 97,871. This was higher than the peak number of vehicles in last year’s Idul Fitri exodus, which was around 90,000.

“[Traffic] density may continue on Monday. We estimate the number of vehicles to peak at more than 100,000 vehicles per day,” Cikopo-Palimanan toll road operator PT LMS deputy president director Firdaus Azis said.

The one-way system is also expected to affect vacationers, many of whom are expected to leave Jakarta in the morning to avoid traffic jams.

Rebin, 47, a holiday traveler from South Jakarta, said he was used to starting his Idul Fitri holiday travel at nighttime. However, due to the one-way system, he said he would leave at 7 a.m. in the hope that traffic would be smoother. (IKI/SKA/FRD/HRS/DIV/AIN/WER/ITA/RAM)