Severe Traffic Jams, Pramono Asks JORR Toll Exit On TB Simatupang Road To Be Closed Every Afternoon

Severe congestion on Jalan TB Simatupang, South Jakarta and its surroundings (DOK Diah Ayu/VOI)

JAKARTA - DKI Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung will send a letter to the central government to help deal with severe congestion on Jalan TB Simatupang, South Jakarta and its surroundings.

Head of the DKI Jakarta Transportation Agency, Syafrin Liputo, said that the letter would be addressed to the Toll Road Management Agency (BPJT).

Pramono asked BPJT to be willing to temporarily close the JORR Toll exit gate on Jalan TB Simatupang in the afternoon.

"The governor will write to BPJT to make arrangements there. We are trying to close it only at peak afternoon, afternoon. This is just a suggestion, yes," Syafrin told reporters, Thursday, August 21.

In the analysis of the DKI Jakarta Transportation Agency, there is a bottleneck or narrowing of roads due to the off-ramp JORR Toll Road at kilometer 21 on Jalan TB Simatupang. This condition exacerbates the volume of congestion.

Vehicles that exit the JORR Toll Road at that point, according to Syafrin, will usually cross directly to Fatmawati Street to the south. Meanwhile, the majority of the speed of vehicles on TB Simatupang Street from the east to RA Kartini Street or Fatmawati Street to the north.

"This then causes crossing and is hampered. Once there it is hampered, while the traffic lane next to the exit toll is only two lanes. Once to the east there will be met with PAL's work. So, the queue is getting longer," explained Syafrin.

Syafrin said, currently there are a number of projects that are carried out at the same time to use part of the road on Jalan TB Simatupang and its surroundings.

These include increasing the capacity of the Perumda PAM Jaya drinking water pipeline, the work of the Jakarta Sewerage Development Project (JSDP) or the construction of a wastewater treatment plant carried out by Perumda Paljaya, the integrated utility network (SJUT) excavation work by the Bina Marga Office. This is what causes long traffic jams to occur.

"Indeed, at some point the project was implemented, it combined the traffic space, so there was only one lane there. The density was certainly very severe," explained Syafrin.

Therefore, the Transportation Agency handles, one of which is by diverting part of the sidewalk area to a temporary road body so that traffic is more decomposed.

"We will take a few sidewalks, especially those on the Sumatupang DBS, in the Cibis Park area. So that the width of the traffic lane, at least we can return two lanes," he added.