Traffic engineer for Jakarta<\/p>\n
\"One way traffic even creates new problems,\" said Tubagus M.
\nRais (Jakarta Post, Sept.1). He is quite right, but it is not
\nonly one-way traffic. It is total lack of foresight.<\/p>\n
About three years ago I wrote in this column that the only
\nhope of solving Jakarta's ghastly situation was for Jakarta city
\nadministration to engage the services of a highly qualified
\ntraffic engineer from a Western country.<\/p>\n
Let me give just one example of where lack of foresight has
\ncreated a really awful `macet' (traffic congestion), which anybody
\nwith a grain of common sense should have foreseen.<\/p>\n
The opening of the Jalan Sudirman underpass, was presumably,
\nmeant to ease the traffic problem. Far from it. What do we have
\nnow? We have a stream of traffic, two or three abreast, pouring
\ndown from Jalan Sudirman, with a view to either turning left into
\nthe underpass, or right onto the new road (possibly to find its
\nway onto Jalan Rasuna Said).<\/p>\n
Then we have traffic passing through the underpass and turning
\nright, past Landmark Centre, either to turn right again, via the
\nLandmark roundabout, onto Jalan Sudirman, or to bear left toward
\nJalan Rasuna Said.<\/p>\n
Finally, you have the unfortunates, like myself, who are
\nleaving Landmark Centre, who have to join the queue coming from
\nthe Rasuna Said direction, in order to try to force our way down
\ntowards the underpass and to turn right at the traffic lights
\nalong the new road, in order to get onto Jalan Rasuna Said, which
\nis my only feasible way home.<\/p>\n
Even at 5:00 p.m., the situation is grotesque. It can take me
\n10 minutes to travel the 200 meters from Landmark to the traffic
\nlights by the underpass.<\/p>\n
Lately, there has been a policeman on duty, complete with his
\ninevitable \"Ton-ton Macoutte\" dark glasses blowing his whistle
\nand waving his arms, but this seems, if anything, to create
\ngreater chaos.<\/p>\n
This sort of situation might have been avoided, if the
\nMunicipality had engaged a traffic engineer years ago. Maybe it
\nis too late now.<\/p>\n
The problem is compounded by the construction of even more
\nhigh rise office blocks in an area which is already over
\ncongested. Why on earth does the government go on granting
\nbuilding licenses to contractors, involving hundreds of million
\ndollars, simply to make the traffic chaos worse than ever? Each
\nnew tower block is going to generate hundreds more vehicles on
\nthe roads.<\/p>\n
That money would be far better spent on projects designed to
\nimprove the life styles of the millions of underprivileged
\ncitizens of this country. The government only needs to prohibit
\nbanks from lending money to developers of office blocks in the
\ncenter of the city, and only to grant loans for projects of
\nsocial importance throughout the archipelago.<\/p>\n
R.B. SAWREY-COOKSON<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/traffic-engineer-for-jakarta-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }