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U-turn located on Jl. M.H. Thamrin in Cikokol, Tangerang, has been reopened after being closed for two weeks following residents'€™ complaints. Memed, a local resident who passes along the road on a daily basis, said he did not understand why Tangerang Mayor Arief R. Wismansyah seemed to turn a blind eye to the presence of the U-turn, which was prone to traffic accidents.

'€œI don'€™t believe that the Tangerang mayor and legislative council do not know about this,'€ Memed told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

He said in recent months he had seen three traffic accidents in the U-turn, which was located near the Transmart shopping center.

The U-turn is located right after a bend in the road. It is difficult for motorists and motorcyclists coming from Serpong, Tangerang, to notice the U-turn'€™s concrete barrier, which is located in the street'€™s fast lane. Road users who are not accustomed to the presence of the U-turn may hit the concrete barrier or be forced to suddenly swerve
to the left.

'€œIf we slam the steering wheel to the left, we can hit a vehicle on the left. That is what usually happens,'€ Memed said, adding that he suspected that the regional administration was accommodating Transmart'€™s business and had set aside public safety considerations.

Meanwhile, Transmart store manager Hamdani Suria claimed that his company had not made any request to build the U-turn to accommodate their business.

'€œI don'€™t know about the U-turn, but I am sure it is not related to Transmart,'€ he said.

The U-turn was constructed by the Banten Provincial Administration in December 2014. Head of Tangerang Transportation Agency Herman Suwarman said the U-turn was constructed without proper coordination with the Tangerang Regional Administration.

He said the Banten administration previously argued that the U-turn was made to ease traffic jams on the Cikokol overpass.

'€œWe had yet to reach any agreement, but suddenly the U-turn was built. Until now the mayor has yet to give us any instructions, although he had declared he would reject it,'€ Herman said.

During an inspection on Dec. 26, councilors had recommended that the Tangerang administration close the U-turn.

Meanwhile, former Tangerang mayor Wahidin Halim, who now serves as a lawmaker in the House of Representatives, urged Arief to close the U-turn as it endangered road users.

'€œWhen I was still serving as the Tangerang mayor, I was offered Rp 500 million (US$39,000) to give a permit to open a U-turn in that location. However, I rejected the request,'€ he said.