Reading a city from its roads
West Surabaya now possesses a new hub to alleviate congestion. The next challenge is ensuring that this hub becomes part of a smart, sustainable mobility system that serves the public interest.
Surabaya (ANTARA) - The flow of vehicles in the western part of Surabaya, East Java, often comes to a halt not because of red lights, but because road space can no longer keep pace with regional growth. In a matter of years, an area once dominated by residential settlements has evolved into a centre for trade, services, education, and vertical housing. Vehicle flow has increased, but the capacity of the road network has not grown at the same speed.
The sight of long queues on Jalan Raya Lontar has become a daily occurrence. Vehicles travelling from Pakuwon Trade Centre towards Citraland, or vice versa, meet on relatively narrow road sections. During morning and evening rush hours, congestion becomes a routine that drains time, energy, and even productivity.
Therefore, the opening of the Jalan Radial Road Lontar for a trial period at the end of June 2026 is more than just the addition of a new road segment. This policy is an effort to change how traffic moves in one of Surabaya’s fastest-growing economic areas.
The Surabaya City Government has chosen to begin with one-way traffic engineering. Vehicles from the east will be directed via Jalan Radial Road, while the opposite flow will continue to use Jalan Raya Lontar until an evaluation is conducted. This gradual approach demonstrates that road development does not end with construction work, but must be followed by testing traffic behaviour.
In many large cities, congestion is rarely resolved simply by building new roads. While roads do increase capacity, public travel patterns also continue to change. As areas become more densely populated, new vehicles will inevitably fill the available space.
This phenomenon is known in transport studies as induced demand, where vehicle usage increases following an expansion in road capacity. Consequently, the success of Radial Road Lontar should not be measured solely by the smoothness of traffic during the first week of the trial. The benchmark is much broader: whether the new road can sustainably change traffic distribution, reduce travel time, and improve the quality of citizen mobility.