PETALING JAYA: The balik kampung rush for Hari Raya is picking up. The usual seven-hour trip from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Baru needed two extra hours yesterday.
But that was only the beginning. It will get a lot worse today.
Yesterday, the journey to Kota Baru via the East Coast Expressway (ECE) recorded the longest estimated travel time of eight hours and 35 minutes, while motorists using the Central Spine Road faced a slightly shorter trip – eight hours and 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, the KL-Penang route was a bearable four hours and 42 minutes – from the usual four hours – while the KL-Johor Baru stretch reached a maximum of four hours and 34 minutes.
These travel times were recorded via Google Maps, conducted at two-hour intervals from March 18 to 4pm on March 19, covering four popular routes – northbound to Penang, eastbound to Kota Baru via both the Central Spine Road and ECE, and southbound to Johor Baru.
The estimated travel durations were for non-stop journeys, excluding rest or meal stops. The actual travel times are likely to be higher due to traffic congestion or accidents.
The sharpest buildup was seen on the east coast routes, with travel times rising steadily after midnight and remaining high throughout the morning.
The ECE route first exceeded eight hours at 10pm on March 18, while the Central Spine Road crossed the same threshold at 8am on March 19.
The longest trips were logged at 8am on March 19, when the Central Spine Road took eight hours and 15 minutes, and the ECE route reached eight hours and 35 minutes.
Northbound traffic to Penang showed a more moderate increase, peaking at four hours and 42 minutes in the early hours of March 19, compared with a low of around three hours and 39 minutes.
The KL-Johor Baru corridor remained comparatively smooth, staying close to four hours most of the time.
