Motorists annoyed by road closure

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Many motorists driving in the vicinity of the Merdeka presidential palace in Central Jakarta became upset on Thursday due to heavy traffic congestion arising from the closure of main roads in the area without any prior warning to the public.

"This is really annoying. They should have made an announcement beforehand so that motorists could avoid the closed roads and seek alternative routes," said Rini, 27, who arrived late to her office in Kota, West Jakarta, due to the traffic jams.

Rini revealed that she left for work at 7 a.m. from her residence in Benhil, Central Jakarta, but to her surprise, she got caught in the traffic around the National Monument for more than one hour.

"I was late reaching my office. Fortunately, many colleagues of mine also came late owing to the traffic so my boss accepted my excuse," Rini said.

Rini drives her car to work every day. In normal circumstances, she only needs about 30 minutes to get to the office.

Police cordoned off some roads around the presidential palace, including Jl. Veteran, Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara, the National Monument Park, Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat and Jl. Musium, for almost five hours as President Megawati Soekarnoputri formally installed military and police cadets at the presidential palace.

Motorists reported that the closure of the main highways around the presidential palace resulted in the side streets normally used as alternative routes to also end up gridlocked.

Roads around Gambir railway station and the Patung Tani monument, as well as Jl. MH. Thamrin, and roads in Menteng and Senen also ended up gridlocked.

Like Rini, Victor, an employee of a finance firm on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, South Jakarta, was also taken by surprise by the road closures.

"Later, I found out the cause of the jams from other motorists," he said.

Victor revealed that he had attempted to avoid the traffic but to no avail as almost all alternative roads were also heavily jammed.

"I left home in Kemayoran (Central Jakarta) at 10 a.m. and hit the traffic at Jl. Pasar Senen. Then I tried to seek an alternative route via Pasar Baru but it was also clogged. Finally, I arrived at the office at noon," Victor said angrily.

Victor, who rides a motorcycle to work, said he usually only needed 45 minutes to get to the office in normal conditions.

Meanwhile, Lies, 27, who uses public transportation to travel to Jakarta Police Headquarters in Semanggi, South Jakarta, was lucky as his minibus driver managed to avoid the traffic.

"The minibus driver was able to beat the traffic by taking side streets through residential areas in Petojo (Central Jakarta)," she said.