RESIDENTS of Bandar Saujana Putra (BSP) in Jenjarom, Kuala Langat are an angry lot because they have to go through a terrible traffic jam each morning.
“Last year, my children missed school twice because we got stuck in the morning crawl,” said Wan Rosli Wan Omar, a father of four who had lived in the township for four years.
In the chaos of peak-hour traffic, Wan Rosli said it was not uncommon to see schoolchildren being transferred from car to motorbike in the middle of the road to reach school on time or make it back home earlier.
This had also raised concerns on road safety.
Wan Rosli said he had to set his alarm at 5am every day to prepare his children for school.
As they attend a government school in UEP Subang Jaya (USJ) 12km away, they have to be out of the house by 6am to avoid the jam.
He feels it ridiculous to wake his children up so early to travel a short distance, but it was either that or be late for school.
His friend Rosli Ramli, also a father of four, faces the same problem.
Last year, on a few occasions, Rosli overslept till 6am and his children came home with warning letters for being late.
BSP Residents Association safety and health committee member Nazlan Che Salleh, said traffic congestion started three years ago with new developments in the area.
The new projects are believed to have increased the traffic volume on the North-South Expressway Central Link (Elite) and the South Klang Valley Expressway (SKVE). The township is located at the intersection of both highways.
Residents also said the developers and town planners had acted irresponsibly by failing to look into traffic issues.
They worry the traffic situation would be worse when new developments, including another township and a college, are completed.
Nazlan believes merging traffic from SKVE and Elite at the BSP roundabout is causing the congestion.
Having only one exit and entry point from the township compounds the problem.
The situation is worsened by hesitant drivers who opt to stay put until the fast-moving traffic from the major roadways have eased before proceeding into the roundabout.
Backlogs are reported to start from as far back as the guardhouse of Sri Saujana low-cost flats in Jalan SP4/1.
The queue then snakes into Jalan SP 4/4 winds all the way into Jalan Saujana Putra to merge with more traffic at the roundabout that connects the township to the two major roadways.
For residents, it is not unusual for a 3km journey to take an hour.
A complaint was sent to the Selangor Mentri Besar and Works Minister last July.
A reply two months later from Permodalan Negeri Selangor (PNSB), which oversaw the development of housing projects in the state, stated that a proposed flyover to allow traffic from Elite and SKVE to bypass the BSP roundabout had been approved.
“The residents are losing patience waiting for the flyover and have vented their anger in our chat group,” said resident Abdullah Md Arshad.
LBS Bina Group, the developer for BSP, said constructing a flyover would take time.
Assistant general manager Lee Cheong San said cost was the main factor for the delay as the project would require funding from about 15 developers whose projects were near the two major roadways.
As such, an analysis would have to be done on the traffic impact coming from the projects.
StarMetro was told that up to eight developers have yet to submit their findings.
PNSB has quoted the cost of building the flyover at RM38mil.
LBS built the Bandar Saujana Putra Toll interchange on Elite for RM94mil. It started operations in March 2008.
As construction of the SKVE had yet to begin then, LBS did not see the necessity to construct a flyover at the time.
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