The project is expected to involve a short underpass connecting Mount Erskine to Jalan Burma beneath the Gottlieb-Bagan Jermal cross-junction.
Zulfikar Abdul Aziz of the Penang Public Transport Users Association (Petua) questioned why the federal government did not organise town hall sessions to obtain feedback from local residents before approving funds for the project.
He told FMT that Petua’s own site study found that congestion on Gottlieb Road only occurs during peak hours in the morning and at noon, and is attributed to two schools located along the road – the Penang Chinese Girls High School and SJKC Phor Thay.
Zulfikar said limited parking within school compounds has forced parents to park along the Gottlieb Road–Bagan Jermal stretch, worsening traffic congestion.
“With schools located on both sides of the junction, congestion will occur both in the morning and afternoon. Therefore, this underpass will not significantly help alleviate traffic,” he said.
“At best, cars might not build up inside the underpass, but the traffic gridlock above it would remain.”
Meanwhile, former Penang state transport engineer Lim Thean Heng expressed his concerns that the underpass project might end up shifting the bottleneck from Mount Erskine Road to Gottlieb Road, and then to Burmah Road-Cantonment Road.
“That (underpass is not) really solving the problem, as it is actually transferring one gridlock to another further down the road,” he said.
More study needed
Lim said the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) and the state government should conduct another traffic study – especially along Mount Erskine, Tanjong Tokong, Gottlieb Road, Burmah Road, Kelawei Road and Gurney Drive – to find ways to alleviate the congestion.
He explained that the authorities would need to perform a traffic count and then conduct a computer simulation to assess how the traffic would flow.
The former transport engineer acknowledged that any exercise, including road widening works, cannot do much to alleviate the traffic congestion on the island.
“It has been proven time and time again that if you increase the supply of roads without limiting the number of cars on the streets, all roads will soon be gridlocked,” he said.
“The federal government is pumping money into Penang to build more roads. Although this (underpass project) is a road improvement infrastructure, it will not solve the problems in the long run or even in the short term. So it is a no-brainer.
“There’s no two ways about it. With the number of cars people are buying and the influx of vehicles to Penang Island, our road system simply can’t cope, especially in the downtown and urban areas.”
More buses
Zulfikar suggested increasing the number of Rapid Penang buses to fulfil the 1,000 buses per million residents ratio, enhancing services statewide, including in the vicinity of the schools near the Gottlieb-Bagan Jermal cross junction.
He said students must be encouraged to use public buses, as well as Rapid On-Demand (ROD) service vans to alleviate traffic problems facing the two affected schools.
The state government is seeking RM3.75 million from Putrajaya to start the underpass project next year. It is one of 128 infrastructure proposals under the 13th Malaysia Plan, with RM2.1 billion requested for next year.
The project has been widely criticised by civil society groups in recent years, with the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) describing it as a waste of money.
However, chief minister Chow Kon Yeow has defended the project, calling it the “best option” to resolve traffic woes in the area.