Experts boo mishmash city traffic policies
Damar Harsanto and Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Experts on urban transportation criticized on Thursday the city administration's project to widen main thoroughfares Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin, saying the project reflected the administration's inconsistency in its so-called strategy to improve public transportation.
"It seems the administration has bowed down to the demands of private vehicle owners as it's now just half-heartedly supporting its own busway project," Intrans transportation expert Darmaningtyas told The Jakarta Post.
He was referring to Governor Sutiyoso's appeal for commuters with private car to move to public transportation, particularly the busway, to help alleviate traffic congestion and pollution.
Unfortunately, the busway, launched on Jan. 15, has instead garnered criticism for causing more traffic as it has taken up one of the fast lanes of the busy 12.9-kilometer corridor from South Jakarta to Kota.
In an apparent answer to the critics, the administration is planning to widen and readjust the width of the thoroughfares' lanes by cutting liberally into the tree-lined median strips in the center and the divider between the slow and fast lanes.
Architect and urban planner Marco Kusumawijaya called the latest project "a setback", adding that the utility level of a road is measured by how many people and goods -- not vehicles -- could be transported on it.
Transportation expert Alan Marino of Trisakti University took the criticism a step further, seemingly implying that there could be some perfidiousness in the works when he said, "the project's high budget, however, is possibly the real reason that the administration is insisting on it".
Commenting on the possibility of tree-lined medians being cropped, environmentalist Ahmad Safrudin said it would just be yet more confirmation that the administration was mathematically challenged when it comes to calculating the 30 percent of open, green spaces mandated by city regulations. According to a report last year the amount of green space has been dropping for years and it is now less than 10 percent.
On Thursday, the Post observed several sites along the median strip of Jl. Sudirman being torn up.
Despite the criticism, City Public Works Agency head Fodly Misbach defended the project, claiming it had been planned before the launch of the busway.
He said that the purpose of the project was to make the idle space more efficient along the arteries.
"That's the best, fastest fix as well as the cheapest (solution for the traffic)," Fodly asserted.
"We did similar projects (felling trees and widening lanes) on Jl. Sisingamangaraja and on Jl. Dr. Satrio, both in South Jakarta, and there was no such criticism," he added.
In the Rp 15 billion (US$1.76 million) project, Fodly revealed that his office would also rid the city of the lane dividers on Jl. Thamrin.
"We will make the road similar to Jl. Medan Merdeka, which has no fast-slow lane dividers," he said.