Motorists annoyed by road closure

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.