In addition to widening Jl. Komodor, the main street leading to Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, the city administration is seeking an alternative access road in anticipation of gridlock following the airport'€™s reopening for commercial flights on Friday.

Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, in his field tour to the airport, said that each of the main street'€™s two lanes would be widened by 3 meters to help reduce congestion at the airport'€™s gate and at the Cawang intersection, because around 1.200 vehicles per hour were expected to flow in and out of the airport after Garuda Indonesia, Citilink and AirAsia relocated some of their domestic flights to the airport.

 '€œIt may cause traffic congestion,'€ he said during his visit to Halim Perdanakusuma Airbase on Friday.

City-owned airline Citilink'€™s flights flying from Jakarta to Yogyakarta, Malang in East Java and Semarang in Central Java have been officially moved to Halim. Starting February, national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia and private airline Air Asia will also depart from the airbase.

Jokowi said that he considered providing medium-sized bus services to Halim, in addition to the seven existing services to Halim from several areas of Greater Jakarta.

He also said he was considering widening Jl. Kerja Bhakti that leads to the airport from the rear in Kampung Makassar and open a direct route from the toll road to the airport.

Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said that the city would handle the land acquisition while the central government would carry out the road construction project.

Jakarta Public Works Agency head Manggas Rudy Siahaan said that the project aimed to widen each lane by 3 meters.

'€œWe will speak with [state-owned airport operator] PT Angkasa Pura II, the central government and the Air Force,'€ he said.

Jakarta Transportation Agency head Udar Pristono, who accompanied the governor during the field visit, said that his agency would handle the traffic management.

He pointed out that there would be an increase in traffic congestion in several spots, including around the Cililitan shopping center and the Jl. Cililitan Besar-Jl-Komodor Halim Perdanakusuma intersection.

Traffic congestion is also expected on Jl. Kerja Bakti'€“Jl. Squadron intersection and the Jagorawi toll road.

Separately, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said on Friday that police, in cooperation with the Jakarta Transportation Agency, the city administration, Angkasa Pura II and the Air Force, had proposed some recommendations to overcome possible traffic gridlock when all three airlines begin operating in March.

The police, for example, recommended that another access road be developed between the Cikampek-Jakarta toll road and the airport and that all the roads leading to the airport be expanded to reduce traffic congestion, he said.

Jl. Halim Perdanakusuma is currently the only access between the toll road to the airport.

'€œThe lanes close to u-turns also needed to be widened so that vehicles making u-turns would not increase congestion,'€ Rikwanto said.

He said the police also recommended that the airport gate be relocated away from the terminal as the distance between the two was relatively close '€” around 300 meters.

Rikwanto said the police would deploy more traffic officers to prevent gridlock, especially during peak hours and during times when buildings near the airport were being used as venues for wedding ceremonies.

Jakarta residents often use buildings like Setya Garini and the BKKBN headquarters as wedding venues.

Besides those problems, the operation of two taxi ranks near the airport had also caused traffic gridlock, said Rikwanto.(nai)

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