Easing Kolombong traffic woes: PWD
Published on: Tuesday, December 05, 2023
By: Sidney Skinner
The faded ‘yellow box’ near the junction to BSA is due to be repainted.
THE Public Works Department (PWD) is in the midst of deliberating over how best to ease the traffic woes on the main road between the junctions to the Neutron Point commercial centre and the one to the Borneo Sports Arena (BSA) futsal courts – both in Kolombong.
The agency is also keeping an eye on the manner in which the Pan Borneo highway is being constructed in the Ketiau area of Putatan to ensure that the safety of motorists is not being compromised by the road-widening work.
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This follows feedback from a Kolombong motorist and another from Papar about the poor experience which they separately had on Jalan Lintas and Jalan Putatan.
The former spoke out about the difficulty which drivers – heading towards the Mile 5 cemetery – encountered in making a U-turn or entering the junction to Jalan Lintas Khidmat.
The Department’s staff monitoring the traffic flow at the BSA traffic light intersection.
The latter, on the other hand, expressed her concern about the potential accident risk caused by the overlapping markings on the road. She said the previous markings were still visible in many places which created much confusion for road-users.
Both individuals provided Hotline with the pertinent information which was forwarded to the agency.
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A PWD spokesman said a check was made of the two junctions in Kolombong, shortly after the Department learned about what was happening on Jalan Lintas.
He said staff with its Traffic Section monitored the traffic flow during separate inspections in October and late last month.
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“They noticed that many drivers, coming from Inanam, were stopping their vehicles after the white line on the surface of the road, when the traffic lights at both junctions turned red,” he said,
“We are weighing up the possibility of reconfiguring the road markings to highlight the line before which the traffic is supposed to come to a halt in such circumstances.
“Additional traffic signs may be put up, on top of this, to alert the public to the presence of the line.”
Furthermore, the Department was looking into having a ‘yellow box’ painted on the surface of Jalan Lintas near the junction to Neutron Point, according to him.
“There is already one near the junction to BSA, but it has become faded.
“We want to give this ‘yellow box’ a fresh coat of paint so that drivers observe the necessary road rules.”
The spokesman said the Department would accord priority to doing this, once funds allowed.
“We tentatively hope to implement some, if not all, of these improvement strategies in the first quarter of 2023, once we have received our annual budget for the year.”
Meanwhile, the contractor, tasked with constructing the Pan Borneo highway in Putatan, has attended to the overlapping markings on the section of the road in the Ketiau area.
Another spokesman said a fresh layer of asphalt was recently laid over the main road, after which the traffic lines were repainted.
“The road looks as good as new and we believe it will give road users a clear indication of the modified traffic flow around the construction site,” he said.
Prior to having the stretch resurfaced, the spokesman said a “DIY” (do-it-yourself) method was employed to indicate the changing traffic diversions there.
“Given as how some of the older markings could still be seen, this resulted in a mess of traffic lines on the road.”
He admitted that the PWD had received numerous complaints about the safety hazards posed by the overlapping demarcations.
“We have had several meetings with our contractor on how best to address this problem.”
He explained that the previous white lines had to be “burned off” the stretch.
“The demarcation is made up of a rubberised resin which needs to be heated in order to adhere to the surface of the bitumen,” he said.
“The same process has to be repeated in order for the ‘line’ to be removed.”
LARA of Papar said drivers risked encroaching into the lane next to them because they were unsure of which markings to follow.
“This situation is especially dangerous at night or when there is downpour,” she said.
“I have witnessed motorists almost colliding with each other while driving home after dark on several occasions.”
She hoped the relevant authority would act quickly to remove the old markings before someone came to harm.
PETER of Kolombong, on the other hand, said he often found it difficult to make a right turn to Taman Khidmat, at the traffic lights to Neutron Point, because of the inconsiderate actions of drivers coming from the opposite direction.
“Road-users, coming from the direction of Inanam, do not come to a halt at the white line before the lights,” he said.
When the light turns green for motorists to go into the junction or make a U-turn towards City Mall, they only had seconds to do this, according to him.
“We risk being hit by oncoming traffic which makes it very stressful for us.
“This is especially so during the peak hours
before offices opened and after they closed for the day.”
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