Traffic builds up at major highways prior to Christmas

At a standstill: A bumper-to-bumper crawl on both sides of the Sungai Besi toll plaza at 2pm yesterday. — SS KANESAN/The Star

KUALA LUMPUR: It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas as traffic builds up at major highways. Many motorists took advantage of the toll-free day yesterday to travel for their festive break, which also coincides with the year-end school holidays.

Live traffic cams showed that traffic on northbound traffic on the North-South Expressway was congested at Rawang Selatan, Bukit Beruntung, Bukit Tagar, Simpang Pulai and Juru.

Similarly, the section towards Seremban and Nilai was also crowded.

Bernama reported a Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) spokesman as saying that traffic was moving slowly northbound from Sungai Buloh to Bukit Beruntung as at 9.30am.

There was also an accident at KM426.5 of the southbound side from Bukit Tagar to Bukit Beruntung that caused an 11km gridlock heading north, even as traffic heading south was under control.

A PLUS update on X (formerly known as Twitter) said an accident at KM182.2 northbound from Jasin to Ayer Keroh, with the right lane obstructed, caused a 4km long congestion.

Eastbound traffic was also reported to be slow-moving before the Gombak toll plaza, from Gombak up to Genting Sempah, following an increased number of vehicles.

The Causeway leading to Johor and Singapore was choked with traffic from early morning yesterday.-Photo taken from social media

In Johor Baru, the Causeway leading into Johor was choked with traffic from early morning, with live traffic updates from 8am showing that the journey into Malaysia takes as long as four hours.

Travellers coming through the Second Link in Tuas also faced a similar predicament.

In Perak, a trailer breakdown at KM262.9 southbound from Menora Tunnel to Ipoh, and an accident at KM333.2 northbound from Bidor to Tapah, brought traffic at both stretches to a crawl.