Rawang’s traffic woes have motorists seeing red

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 7): To the residents of Rawang and the motorists who ply Rawang’s arterial B-roads like Jalan Welman, Jalan Batu Arang and Jalan Maxwell daily, bumper to bumper traffic jams stretching for kilometres have become the norm.

One of the contributing factors to the snarl-ups is poor road planning.

M Subramaniam, who is in his 70s, said the problem had existed for as long as he could remember.

He blames it on the numerous traffic lights dotting these asphalt conduits in Rawang.

"I have been running my grocery store here since 1960. People use Jalan Welman here because it has fewer traffic lights," he said. He said the traffic lights were not properly timed and instead of smoothening traffic flow, they were causing traffic jams.

"For instance, take the two traffic lights at Jalan Rawang (one in front of Tesco, one near Petronas Taman Bersatu). You pass one traffic light and the next one is showing the red light. The motorists take forever to move, so of course there will be jams," he said.

He said the proximity of factories and residential schemes to the main roads were another cause of traffic jams.

A taxi driver, who wished to be known as S Jay, said the schools near Jalan Batu Arang were one more contributor to the jams.

"There are four schools there and when you exit to Jalan Batu Arang, there is a road near the cement factory where four lanes converge into one. This is another problem that we have to live with," he said.

He said the lorries with business at the factory near Jalan Batu Arang also used the road and added to the mess.

"All you need is for a lorry to break down in the middle of that bottle neck and you'll be stuck there forever," he said.

He said the people who double parked on Jalan Welman and Jalan Maxwell were worsening the situation and even causing accidents to occur.

"Walk down the road and you will see people double parking right in the middle of the road, reducing the two lanes to one," he said.

Kelvin Leong, who works in shop on Jalan Welman, said traffic was at its worst during the first day of school and festivals.

"The traffic is very bad on the first day of school because, everyone wants to pick up their children on that day," he said.

He said Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) officers sometimes came and fined those who double parked, but the problem persisted.

"MPS will come and issue fines sometimes. It has also changed some of the side parking bays to parallel parking bays.

"They should change all of them to side parking so that there is more space to park," he said.

A shopkeeper on Jalan Welman who wished to be known as Lee said he did not believe the authorities would ever resolve the problem.

"I have been here for 10 years, I don't think the authorities have the capability to resolve these traffic issues," he said

Although a flyover has been built near Masjid Jamek Nurul Iman to bypass the traffic in town, poor town planning causes motorists to still use old roads like Jalan Welman.

Some lorry drivers even use residential roads such as Jalan Rawang Perdana, causing potholes that endanger road users, especially motorcyclists. -- The Malaysian Insider

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