The Tangerang Transportation Agency has urged motorists traveling from Jakarta to the municipality to avoid Jl. Daan Mogot.

“Motorists are advised to look for alternative roads because access has been restricted as a result of road repair works,” the agency head, Wahyudi Iskandar, said on Monday, as quoted by antaranews.com.

He said Jl. Daan Mogot from Agus Salim pedestrian bridge heading from Jakarta was closed and that a one-way system toward Tangerang had been implemented from the Tanah Tinggi intersection to the Batu Ceper intersection and Jl. Lio Baru in Tangerang.

Severe traffic congestion occurred in the area on Monday morning as the road closure affected commuters traveling to Jakarta.

Transportation agency officials along with local traffic police diverted motorists onto Jl. Lio Baru, Jl. KH. Agus Salim and Jl. Suprapto, while large vehicles were diverted onto only Jl. Lio Baru, he said.

“For a smooth trip, motorists can choose the northern part of Jl. Daan Mogot to avoid traffic,” Wahyu added.

Tangerang Mayor Arief R. Wismansyah has instructed the Tangerang Public Works and Housing (PUPR) Agency to immediately coordinate with the PUPR Ministry to cope with the situation given that Jl. Daan Mogot is a national road overseen by the ministry.

Head of the Disaster-Risk Reduction Technology Center at the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), Nur Hidayat, said the road damage was probably caused by local factors, not the floods that happened earlier this month.

He based this conclusion on the fact that the road subsidence occurred only in a certain area and not in other locations and there was no sign of flooding on that section, he said.

“There are water pipes and cables inside the hole, so it can be ascertained that it was due to local factors,” he said. “The owners of the pipes and cables should be invited to efforts to find the cause.”

Nur also confirmed that the subsidence that occurred was not a result of geological factors and suggested the Tangerang administration conduct research in several other locations to assess waterways and road conditions, especially those affected by the previous floods.

The PUPR Ministry through the National Road Management Agency (BPJN) carried out repairs on Jl. Daan Mogot on Sunday and estimated that the work would take at least five days to complete.

 

Tangerang PUPR Agency secretary Taufik Syahzaeni said the work began with the digging up of the road to make it easier for officers to begin repairs.

 

Meanwhile, he said, there were water pipes and optical cables as well as some other cables that needed to be dealt with first before replacing the sewerage pipe with 1.2-m culvert boxes.

 

“The culvert boxes needed in this work will be 18 m long in total. We will continue to do the work even though the water inside the hole from a broken pipe is somewhat challenging,” he said. (syk)