Flooding triggers heavy congestion across jakarta
Flooding triggers heavy congestion across jakarta
JAKARTA (JP): Flooding, poor handling of traffic and the absence of traffic police were blamed for the heavy congestion in many city streets yesterday.
People complained that they spent three times longer than usual on the road.
Hundreds of commuters were seen waiting for buses, which were already overloaded. Some public bus drivers had had to change routes to avoid congestions.
Commuters said that one of the main factors behind the congestion was the flooding around Jl. Daan Mogot in West Jakarta.
The water, which reached about 50 centimeters for a two- kilometer segment of road, caused many vehicles to stall.
Water also covered part of Jl. S. Parman in front Tarumanegara University in West Jakarta.
On certain roads in the heart of the city, such as Jl. Thamrin, Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Gatot Subroto, the traffic flow began to improve in the evening.
At one point in the afternoon, traffic was banked up for more than 10 km from part of the tollroad on Jl. Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta to Jl. S. Parman in West Jakarta.
Bumper-to-bumper
"I spent more than three-and-a-half hours to get from my house in Pesing to Jl. Gatot Subroto. Usually it takes me only 40 minutes," said Linda, an employee of a private firm.
Bumper-to-bumper traffic clogged highways connecting the city with Bekasi, Tangerang and Tanjung Priok.
Traffic jams were also severe on the Tanjung Priok-Cawang tollroad.
On the Karawaci-Tomang highway, a jam about 10 km in length was observed.
No highway patrol police or tollroad operator personnel were seen helping manage the traffic.
One police officer had to drive for almost half an hour from Jl. Tulodong to his nearby office at the City Police Headquarters in South Jakarta. On normal days, it takes him less than five minutes to make the trip, he said.
Among the other roads with congestion yesterday were Jl. Salemba Raya, Jl. Proklamasi, Jl. Matraman Raya and Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta; Jl. Yos Sudarso and connecting streets in North Jakarta; and Jl. Pesanggrahan in South Jakarta.
Some taxi drivers refused to take passengers heading for Palmerah, Kebon Jeruk and other destinations in West Jakarta.
Motorists who usually spend 10 to 15 minutes to traverse a four-km stretch of road from Tanah Abang cemetery to Palmerah, Central Jakarta, spent 50 minutes making the trip yesterday.
A cemetery official tried to help ease the traffic by opening a small alley to motorists heading for Pejompongan. He received between Rp 100 and Rp 500 from each driver for the service.
City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Dibyo Widodo said the heavy rain since Tuesday evening was the main factor in yesterday's traffic woes.
Irzal Djamal, the deputy head of the City Land Transportation Office, concurred with Dibyo, saying that the flooding in North Jakarta had disrupted the traffic.
Water reached between 60cm and 75cm in North Jakarta, the local flood control post reported yesterday.
Yesterday's floods and traffic congestion reportedly forced many private and government employees to stay at home.
A number of flights were said to have been delayed yesterday but airline officials could not be reached for confirmation last night.
Agus Waluyo, an information officer at Soekarno-Hatta airport, told The Jakarta Post that Garuda Indonesia had delayed its two domestic flights, Merpati Nusantara three and Mandala Airlines one.
He declined to confirm, however, that the delays had been necessitated by the late arrival of passengers and aircraft crew due to the traffic jams. (bsr/32/03/rsl/rms)