Rains cut traffic lights, ups jams

Rains cut traffic lights, ups jams

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Heavy downpour over most part of the capital since Sunday night
swamped several traffic light control boxes, worsening traffic
congestion during peak hours on Monday morning.

Officers in charge of the main control panel room at City Hall
confirmed that many traffic lights were not functioning due to
the flooding.

"Most of our colleagues are now out of the office to repair
the damage," one of the officers told The Jakarta Post.

However, they refused to disclose how many traffic lights were
in affected and how severe the damage was.

Pristono, head of the road infrastructure division with the
Jakarta Transportation Agency, could not be reached for
confirmation.

Traffic light blackouts were seen on Jl. MT Haryono in Cawang,
East Jakarta, Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta, Jl. Panjang in
West Jakarta, and Jl. Basuki Rachmat and Jl. Otto Iskandardinata
in East Jakarta.

A traffic accident involving a trailer truck and a minibus
occurred in front of Kartika Chandra Hotel on Cawang toll road
heading to Grogol, West Jakarta. The accident caused a long
lineup of up to seven kilometers, but no fatalities were
reported.

The Post observed in the afternoon that most of the traffic
lights had returned normal.

The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency predicts the rainy days
will linger up to mid March.