KUALA LUMPUR: Nearly 3.3 million vehicles are expected to use major highways nationwide daily during the peak travel period leading up to Deepavali.
Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) director-general Mohd Hadzmir Yusoff said traffic in Peninsular Malaysia was expected to pick up from today until Sunday, as motorists head to the East Coast and the northern and southern regions.
In a statement, he said the PLUS highway network was projected to record usage by 2.24 million vehicles, followed by the Duta-Ulu Kelang Expressway (DUKE) with 288,000 and the Kuala Lumpur-Karak Expressway (KLK) with 190,000. The West Coast Expressway (WCE) is expected to record 168,000 vehicles, while the Kuala Lumpur-Kuala Selangor Expressway (Latar) and the Kajang-Seremban Expressway (Lekas) are each projected to see 135,000 vehicles.
Meanwhile, Mohd Hadzmir said LLM welcomed the government’s initiative to offer a 50% discount on toll charges for Class 1 vehicles (Class 2 on the Penang Bridge) for two days, beginning from 12.01am today and ending at 11.59pm tomorrow.
The discount applies to all highways nationwide, except at the Sultan Iskandar Building (BSI) Toll Plaza and the Tanjung Kupang Toll Plaza on the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link (Linkedua).
To ensure smooth traffic flow, Mohd Hadzmir said highway concessionaires have been instructed to temporarily halt all maintenance work requiring lane closures from Nov 6 to Nov 10, except in emergencies.
In a separate statement, PLUS Malaysia Bhd said traffic is expected to increase as motorists head back to their hometowns or travel to holiday destinations and advised motorists to plan their journeys in advance and refer to the MyPLUS Travel Time Advisory (MyPLUS-TTA) to determine the best time to travel.
PLUS said it has also activated Smart Lanes at 32 selected locations, allowing motorists to use designated emergency lanes temporarily to ease traffic congestion.
