The second Penang bridge is expected to be completed by November 2013, barring delays. The big question now is how are the roads on the island going to cope with all that traffic?
My main disappointment is that planners never thought of building an inter-city rail link to the island instead. That would have eased inter-city traffic on the existing bridge. Without a rail link, the traffic pouring into Penang will reach nightmarish proportions. Anyone who was in Penang Island over the Lunar New Year holidays will have got a taste of things to come (in terms of traffic congestion).
If a rail link had been built, then people from say, KL, could have had the option of taking a train all the way from Sentral to George Town via Batu Maung.
Work on the 23.5km road bridge, which began in 2008, was 16.7 per cent complete in August 2010, compared to the target of 18.4 per cent completion.
The privatisation committee under the PM’s Department is mulling over the concession period and toll rate for the new Bridge.
The main contractors for the second bridge are Chec Construction (M) Sdn Bhd, UEM Builders Berhad, Cergas Murni Sdn Bhd, IJM Construction Sdn Bhd and HRA Teguh Sdn Bhd.
As at 30 September 2010, 106 subcontractors had been appointed by the main contractors of which 24.5 per cent are contractors registered in Penang.
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Anil, not sure whether you were at all interested in the RM10million 140metre ‘walk’way (it has escalators and elevators?) in KL. I emailed Sustrans in the UK (I’ve been a monthly donor to them for about 20 years) for a ball-park figure for their routes. Here’s the relevant part of their reply: “per mile £150,000 is the quoted cost for the construction of a mile of sealed surface cycle route. You can read more about the costs of sustainable transport infrastructure in our Moving Forward publication:” http://www.sustrans.org.uk/assets/files/rmu/Moving%20forward%20Sustrans%20Monitoring%20Report%20to%20end%202009%20September%202010.pdf 150,000GBP per mile is the equivalent of about RM500 per metre versus RM70,000… Read more »
Does it mean there is a big difference if the existing bridge is to expand by increasing the number of lanes equivalent to a new bridge and a new bridge is built? The number of lanes are not the same as water flow through a conduit
How can you propose a rail-link on the bridge?
That will hurt so many people, the toll concession operator, the bridge operator, petrol companies and not forgetting our proud national car company, PROTON.
Many a small town has been successfully destroyed using the “development tool” of major roads. If you don’t bypass the town entirely, you route traffic right into its heart, bringing in the need for road barriers, overhead bridges, choked junctions, far too few parking lots, etc. Within a couple of years, businesses will move out – eating up valuable surrounding green space – and you are left with a ghetto.
Penang may NOT need the second bridge now or in the next 5/8 years or even 10 years with the completion of expansion of the existing bridge. There is no jam now anywhere of the bridge, only at the toll plaza before coming to Penang. MRT/LRT linkage would be more practical in long term. Well, always a nature of any leaders to leave a legacy when they leave a position, the second bridge will be the legacy of Tun Abdullah and Tan Sri KTK, which GOD knows how much … the cronies would have benefited from. I am just curious,… Read more »
No need to wait for any major holidays for a major traffic jam. There was one week day I saw a traffic jam along Lebuhraya Tun Dr Lim from Sg Pinang junction to Weld Quay. Imagine with more traffic coming from the two bridges linking the island and mainland.
No one has the guts to propose a Master Plan to have all future developments linked to one another. Perhaps, a good lesson can be learned if the Penang State govt send a study group to China and see how they have developed the two cities Macau and Zhuhai… complimenting each other. They have successfully manage the flow of traffic by tackling the three main means, sea, rail and roads.
Precisely. We badly need all transport modes integrated with one another: buses, rail/trams, ferries, pedestrian walkways, cycling.
This is the planning of Malaysia and in particular Umno led government
so don’t expect more. Just look around you where do you find in Malaysia a town with decent planning and that is why Malaysia after 53 years of Umno rule the entire country is in state that it is in. What a … shamble it is !