<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Relief at last, as KPE opens
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>New expressway cuts travel time from north to the city by up to 25% </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Maria Almenoar & Yeo Ghim Lay
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
</TD><TD vAlign=bottom>
PM Lee Hsien Loong declaring the KPE open last night before LTA officials, grassroots leaders, MPs and residents. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A MAJOR milestone in Singapore's road network will be crossed this morning, with the opening of an expressway given the job of easing congestion between downtown and the north.
The 12km-long Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE), with 9km running underground as South-east Asia's longest underground tunnel, connects the Tampines Expressway to East Coast Parkway.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Road projects
KALLANG-PAYA LEBAR EXPRESSWAY
It will benefit residents in the north-east, like Punggol, Sengkang and Hougang.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>It is intended to solve the travel woes of residents in north-eastern suburbs like Sengkang, Punggol and Hougang, for whom - till today - the only highway to the city has been the often-congested Central Expressway (CTE).
The KPE is expected to cut their travel time up to a quarter, and give them a more direct route downtown.
Those living in Ang Mo Kio and Yishun will also be able to use it as an alternative route.
The expressway, installed with 16 Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries, will become possibly the most expensive road to use, although its gantries will not be turned on until congestion kicks in.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who declared the KPE open last night before a crowd of 750 Land Transport Authority (LTA) officials, grassroots leaders, Members of Parliament and residents, restated the Government's commitment to investing billions of dollars to improve the road network here.
The tab for upcoming road projects will exceed $13 billion.
Mr Lee pointed out, however, that road building cannot keep pace with the growth in number of vehicles indefinitely. Nearly 900,000 vehicles jostle for space on the roads now, with the figure growing by 3 per cent a year.
'Fundamentally, we have only a limited amount of land in Singapore. Roads already take up 12 per cent of our total land area,' he noted.
=> But still OK to import FTrash like nobody's biz?
Roads could be built underground, like the KPE, he said, but such roads cost 10 times more to build and 30 times more to maintain.
The solution, therefore, was to use a combination of 'unpopular' vehicle ownership measures like the certificate of entitlement and vehicle-usage measures like ERP.
'I know it hurts motorists to pay each time they pass an ERP gantry, but there is no easy solution to managing traffic congestion,' he said.
=> Sounds familiar?
http://www.mom.gov.sg/publish/mompo...eechbypmgohchoktongatthenationaldayrally.html
"I understand your worries. It is not going to be an easy adjustment."
Speech By Prime Minister Wooden at The Familee Day Rally On 17 August 2003 at the University Cultural Centre, NUAss
<SCRIPT>function doPopup(url, wnd){ if (url.length > 0) { window.open(url, wnd, "status = yes, resizable=yes ,scrollbars=yes") return; } }function doGotoURL(url, wnd){ if (url.length > 0) { //Allow horizontal scrollbar for Email Article window.open(url, wnd, "status = yes, width=500, height=600, resizable=false,scrollbars=yes") return; } } function submitEmailForm(){ document.emailForm.submit();}function submitPrintForm(){ document.printForm.submit();}</SCRIPT>
When cities ignore congestion or fail to tackle it, the people find themselves sitting in traffic jams in the mornings and evenings or even all day, which means costs in time and inconvenience; the economy will also be hurt, he added.
He commended the LTA on completing an 'impressive engineering feat' in the KPE, which runs under a river and a canal.
He also thanked residents along the route who have put up with the noise and inconvenience.
Mr Tay Beng Whatt, 79, who lives in Circuit Road, for instance, is glad the work is done. He said: 'I didn't mind the dust, but the noise meant I couldn't sleep well in the afternoon for many years.'
Punggol resident Melvin Yong, 36, has been living far from the noise and dust, but will now enjoy the convenience the new road will bring.
The civil servant, who has been taking almost 45 minutes to drive to work in Novena on the jammed CTE, is looking forward to shorter travel times.
'I can use the time saved to get an earlier start in the office, and spend more time with my family in the evenings,' he said.
[email protected] [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>New expressway cuts travel time from north to the city by up to 25% </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Maria Almenoar & Yeo Ghim Lay
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
PM Lee Hsien Loong declaring the KPE open last night before LTA officials, grassroots leaders, MPs and residents. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->A MAJOR milestone in Singapore's road network will be crossed this morning, with the opening of an expressway given the job of easing congestion between downtown and the north.
The 12km-long Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE), with 9km running underground as South-east Asia's longest underground tunnel, connects the Tampines Expressway to East Coast Parkway.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>Road projects
KALLANG-PAYA LEBAR EXPRESSWAY
It will benefit residents in the north-east, like Punggol, Sengkang and Hougang.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>It is intended to solve the travel woes of residents in north-eastern suburbs like Sengkang, Punggol and Hougang, for whom - till today - the only highway to the city has been the often-congested Central Expressway (CTE).
The KPE is expected to cut their travel time up to a quarter, and give them a more direct route downtown.
Those living in Ang Mo Kio and Yishun will also be able to use it as an alternative route.
The expressway, installed with 16 Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries, will become possibly the most expensive road to use, although its gantries will not be turned on until congestion kicks in.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who declared the KPE open last night before a crowd of 750 Land Transport Authority (LTA) officials, grassroots leaders, Members of Parliament and residents, restated the Government's commitment to investing billions of dollars to improve the road network here.
The tab for upcoming road projects will exceed $13 billion.
Mr Lee pointed out, however, that road building cannot keep pace with the growth in number of vehicles indefinitely. Nearly 900,000 vehicles jostle for space on the roads now, with the figure growing by 3 per cent a year.
'Fundamentally, we have only a limited amount of land in Singapore. Roads already take up 12 per cent of our total land area,' he noted.
=> But still OK to import FTrash like nobody's biz?
Roads could be built underground, like the KPE, he said, but such roads cost 10 times more to build and 30 times more to maintain.
The solution, therefore, was to use a combination of 'unpopular' vehicle ownership measures like the certificate of entitlement and vehicle-usage measures like ERP.
'I know it hurts motorists to pay each time they pass an ERP gantry, but there is no easy solution to managing traffic congestion,' he said.
=> Sounds familiar?
http://www.mom.gov.sg/publish/mompo...eechbypmgohchoktongatthenationaldayrally.html
"I understand your worries. It is not going to be an easy adjustment."
Speech By Prime Minister Wooden at The Familee Day Rally On 17 August 2003 at the University Cultural Centre, NUAss
<SCRIPT>function doPopup(url, wnd){ if (url.length > 0) { window.open(url, wnd, "status = yes, resizable=yes ,scrollbars=yes") return; } }function doGotoURL(url, wnd){ if (url.length > 0) { //Allow horizontal scrollbar for Email Article window.open(url, wnd, "status = yes, width=500, height=600, resizable=false,scrollbars=yes") return; } } function submitEmailForm(){ document.emailForm.submit();}function submitPrintForm(){ document.printForm.submit();}</SCRIPT>
When cities ignore congestion or fail to tackle it, the people find themselves sitting in traffic jams in the mornings and evenings or even all day, which means costs in time and inconvenience; the economy will also be hurt, he added.
He commended the LTA on completing an 'impressive engineering feat' in the KPE, which runs under a river and a canal.
He also thanked residents along the route who have put up with the noise and inconvenience.
Mr Tay Beng Whatt, 79, who lives in Circuit Road, for instance, is glad the work is done. He said: 'I didn't mind the dust, but the noise meant I couldn't sleep well in the afternoon for many years.'
Punggol resident Melvin Yong, 36, has been living far from the noise and dust, but will now enjoy the convenience the new road will bring.
The civil servant, who has been taking almost 45 minutes to drive to work in Novena on the jammed CTE, is looking forward to shorter travel times.
'I can use the time saved to get an earlier start in the office, and spend more time with my family in the evenings,' he said.
[email protected] [email protected]
