An urgent re-assessment of the whole system is needed. Today, with heavy traffic, the system of traffic lights in use in Bali prevents momentum building up and flow is thus hampered. Frequent and short changes of traffic lights worked well when traffic was light. From a standstill, vehicles need time to pick up momentum, resulting thereafter in flow. Traffic management needs to consider two interconnecting concepts: momentum and flow. In the minds of local traffic officials it may be that Sunset Road is the secondary road, deserving a short period for the green lights. Now, Sunset Road is clearly the major road with a larger volume of traffic.
My first visit to Bali was 35 years ago when the Imam Bonjol Road was the major road from Kuta to Denpasar. This scenario is symptomatic of the outdated management of Bali's traffic lights system. One can sit in the jam and watch the lights change five or six times before reaching the intersection. Vehicles move forward only a few meters before the red light reappears. After the surge of traffic starts, there are only a very few seconds before the whole column stops again.
Underpass simpang siur bali drivers#
Traffic cannot move forward immediately on the change to green because of the egregious and widespread habit of drivers 'running' the red lights. The lights stay on green for just 14 seconds. With the underpass now open and a greater volume of traffic heading west down Sunset Road, the Imam Bonjol intersection is the new Simpang Siur.
Before the opening of the underpass it was already apparent that long tailbacks at Imam Bonjol were being created simply because the timing of the traffic lights was too short. Road users passing through the underpass traveling west to Seminyak and beyond may well feel that the traffic authorities have kicked the can down the road and moved the congestion to the Sunset Road ' Iman Bonjol intersection. We have heard from numerous officials over the past months that South Bali's traffic problems will be solved with the opening of this new underpass and the Nusa Dua ' Ngurah Rai ' Benoa toll road shortly thereafter. There is no doubt that traffic flow through this important hub has been greatly improved. The relevant authorities are to be congratulated on their decision to open the underpass even before work was fully completed and the ceremonies had been held. Bali's first underpass at the Dewa Ruci monument, popularly known as Simpang Siur, is finally open.
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