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Central Java to have toll roads soon to cut down traveling time
Currently under construction, the toll road connecting Central Java’s capital of Semarang with the beautiful town of Salatiga will spoil motorists with scenic landscapes, majestic mountains and lush valleys.
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Infrastructure race: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (third from right) inspects a section of a toll road construction project in Bogor, West Java, during a recent visit. (JP/Ayomi Amindoni)
Central Java will soon have toll roads that cut down traveling time while offering breathtaking views for passing motorists.
Currently under construction, the toll road connecting Central Java’s capital of Semarang with the beautiful town of Salatiga will spoil motorists with scenic landscapes, majestic mountains and lush valleys.
The 22.8 kilometer Semarang-Bawen toll road and the 17.6 km Bawen-Salatiga toll road will take motorists along the slopes of the mountains in Ungaran as well as well as over the rushing streams of Tuntang and Rawa Pening rivers. Moreover, a tall, 360 meter-long bridge that straddles one of these rivers will offer another spectacular vista.
The construction stage of the Bawen-Salatiga toll road is expected to be completed by March.
“The construction project is 81.26 percent complete and we hope it will be finished in March. Ideally, the toll road can be used by motorists traveling to their hometowns during the next Ramadhan exodus,” PT Trans Marga Jateng director for operations Ali Zainal Abidin said on Thursday.
(Read also: Pillar supporting bridge on Bandung-Jakarta toll road ‘deformed’)
PT Trans Marga Jateng is a private company co-owned by state-run toll road operator Jasa Marga and PT Sarana Pembangunan Jawa Tengah, a company owned by the Central Java provincial administration.
At present, the company’s workers are excavating and clearing land in the hilly regions of Kandangan and Polosiri, both in Semarang regency. They are facing the difficult task of clearing an opening on a 30 meter-tall hill in Polosiri.
“Weather conditions have often hampered our work there. When rain falls we have to stop work. Our target is to complete the toll road in one month,” the company’s manager for implementation oversight Togu H. Siringoringo said.
In Kandangan, the workers have to deal with a different problem: unstable ground.
The workers employ bored piling, a technique to drill a deep bore into the ground and fill it in with reinforced concrete, to deal with the problem.
As many as 198 bored piles have been placed at a depth of up to 43 meters in Kandangan and 18 meters in Polosiri.
“Bored piling will stabilize the ground,” Togu added.
The Semarang-Bawen and Bawen-Salatiga toll roads are part of a 72.64 km-long network of toll roads connecting Semarang with Solo, the cultural center of the province.
The network will be equipped with large rest areas with gas stations, convenience stores, restaurants and mosques.
This network in Central Java is part of a much larger network of planned toll roads that will span 652 km from Cikampek in West Java to Surabaya in East Java.
That network comprises the 321 km Cikampek-Semarang toll road, the 72.6 km Semarang-Solo toll road, the 178 km Solo-Mojokerto toll road and the 78 km Mojokerto-Surabaya toll road.
