To Anticipate Traffic Congestion, the Government Will Implement Measurable Traffic Engineering

INDUSTRY.co.id - The Minister of Transportation (Menhub) Budi Karya Sumadi said that his ministry in collaboration with the Indonesian Police Traffic Corps (Korlantas) and Jasa Marga would implement a more measurable traffic engineering plan than before. 

According to him, this plan is expected to be more effective in overcoming traffic jams in anticipation of going home to Idul Fitri 1444 Hijriah/2023 AD.

He explained that the problem of increasing traffic during the upcoming holiday season will be overcome by increasing the capacity of the transportation system such as trains, ships and airplanes.

"As I said earlier, we are confident in what we are doing on the train, at sea, in the air, even on crossings, because the capacity we provide is very significant," said the Minister of Transportation in his press statement after the meeting chaired by the President RI Joko Widodo (Jokowi) regarding the Availability of Staples and Preparation for the Eid Al-Fitr 1444 H Homecoming Flow at the Presidential Office, Jakarta, Friday (24/3/2023).

However, he acknowledged the potential for traffic jams on the Cipali toll road. For this reason, cooperation with Korlantas in traffic engineering plans can overcome this through one-way traffic flow,  contraflow , and odd-even rules.

"That Cipali, Mas knows that from Jakarta to kilometer 66 there are four lanes, four to four, so eight lanes. And, after kilometer 66, there are two lanes. So that's where traffic engineering will be carried out, be it one way, contraflow, or the other one that we will apply is odd-even. We are careful to do this odd-even because considering that the trip from Medan, from Palembang to Jakarta must be delayed, but we will discuss it," he explained again to journalists.

The Minister of Transportation stated that the ratio of capacity to volume (v/c ratio) is very important to avoid traffic jams.

"In short, before we didn't really set the day, we were a bit flexible, now we will discuss the VC Ratio, so capacity per volume. So the sum of the passing capacity and volume must be 0.6. If it's above 0.6, 0.8 it's low . If one, it's stuck. Earlier I also reported to Mr. President that for all of them in exercise it was already 0.6. God willing, we can carry out the current simulation and it can happen at that time, especially with regard to land vehicles in Cipali," he explained.

For this reason, added Budi, the Ministry of Transportation will conduct another survey two weeks before the holidays to re-evaluate the situation.

The Ministry of Transportation, Korlantas, and Jasa Marga are continuing to carry out traffic management on arterial roads and the northern toll road or the north monitoring route (pantura) to anticipate Idul Fitri homecoming traffic jams. The Minister of Transportation said that the narrow arterial road had been widened so that the effectiveness of the north coast could be increased.

"This arterial road is relatively more effective because if I'm not mistaken there used to be a bridge that narrowed, out of seven, five or six have been completed, so there's only one blockage, so the effectiveness of the north/north coast crossing can be relied upon," said the Minister of Transportation.

He also highly appreciates Korlantas and Jasa Marga who are very cooperative in calculating the ratio of the number of vehicles passing on a road in a certain period (volume) compared to the maximum capacity of the road in making the alternative.

"We have been to several points. And, last week Kakorlantas and I went to Cipali to see for ourselves how the road has been made eight lanes and there are roads that still have four lanes. Now four lanes, these four lanes or both have additional rest areas . So, we hope that the additional rest areas will also be cooperative and manage it well," he concluded.