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Trucks inflict congestion after W2 North opens
Slow lane: The traffic at the Cikunir exit on the Jakarta outer ring road (JORR) builds up on Monday
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span class="inline inline-center">Slow lane: The traffic at the Cikunir exit on the Jakarta outer ring road (JORR) builds up on Monday. Since the opening of the outer toll road connecting Kebon Jeruk in West Jakarta and Ulujami in South Jakarta, many truck drivers have ceased using the inner-city toll road, opting instead for the JORR, and consequently making congestion worse on the road. Courtesy of lewatmana.com
If you have driven on the TB Simatupang section of the Jakarta Outer Ring Road (JORR) lately, you will have noticed long lines of trucks at all hours of the day, as the official opening on July 22 of the 54-kilometer toll road's W2 North section, connecting the Ciledug and Ulujami sections in West Jakarta, has completed the circling of the highway around the capital.
'Ever since W2 North started operating, we've had traffic jams all hours of the day. Not just in the morning but in the afternoon too,' taxi driver Hilman grumbled as he spotted the familiar backlog of trucks.
Hilman, who uses the toll road to get to his pool in Jatiasih, Bekasi, West Java, said that trucks caused traffic jams as they used both the center and right lanes in addition to the left lane assigned for large and slow-moving vehicles.
'The advent of so many trucks on the road has made the traffic jams worse because the road's now open to them 24 hours a day,' Hilman told The Jakarta Post. 'As you know, trucks travel at around 30 to 45 kilometers per hour and it's very hard for cars to overtake them.'
The full operation of JORR offers advantages as it connects several toll roads in Greater Jakarta, namely the Jakarta-Cikampek, Jakarta-Bogor-Ciawi, Jakarta-Tangerang and Jakarta-Airport toll roads. Most trucks transporting goods from Sumatra to Java and vice versa now prefer to take the JORR W2 section, which is cheaper and allows them to avoid the most crowded Tomang-Tanjung priok-Cawang section of the inner-city toll road. Trucks have been prohibited from taking the Tomang-Gatot Subroto section of the inner-city toll road during the day.
Residents of Bekasi and Bogor can now travel directly to the airport without taking the Jakarta inner-city toll road.
According to data from JORR operator PT Jalantol Lingkarluar Jakarta (JLJ), 11.82 million cars traveled on JORR in September, dwarfing the 1.49 million trucks that drove along it during the same month. There was an average of 393,956 cars and 49,981 trucks a day.
However, head of JLJ's operational management division Saut Sitorus explained that September's number of trucks increased only slightly from August, when 1.27 million trucks drove on the toll road.
'That means an increase of only around 220,000 in one month. Most of the trucks came from Tangerang [in Banten], where many factories are located, taking the toll road to Cikampek [in West Java],' he said.
Trucks' slow pace and large size caused cars and buses to drive slower too, which contributed to the congestion, he said.
Saut explained that the overwhelming presence of trucks might be the reason that the number of cars decreased from 11.97 million in August to 11.82 million in September.
'Even though it's much quicker to take JORR than to go on the inner-city toll road for those driving from Bogor and Banten, it's not a comfortable ride,' he explained.
Meanwhile, Jakarta Traffic Police operational unit head Adj. Sr. Comr. Budiyanto told the Post on Friday that one of the reasons the JORR toll road was built was to decrease the incidence of traffic jams on the inner-city toll road.
'That is one of the consequences of JORR's operation. It makes sense that there are traffic jams on the outer toll road,' he said.
However, he assured motorists that policemen at the five Highway Police (PJR) stations in Jakarta were constantly monitoring the toll road and communicating with the Traffic Management Center (TMC) at the Jakarta Police headquarters in South Jakarta to stay updated on traffic conditions.
'TMC then gives updates on the traffic conditions in real time on Twitter to make sure that the public is well informed. If the public knows which areas are congested, they can find alternative routes,' he said. (fss)
