The Jakarta government is hoping that new roads will help ease congestion in the city. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)
Jakarta gets a bad rap for having some of the worst traffic in the world.
But there might be relief for the capital’s residents in the form of some new construction projects that have just been completed or are slated to finish this year.
Hanna Prabandari, a daily commuter, says that the new five-kilometer elevated roadway that stretches from Antasari-Blok M to Kampung Melayu-Tanah Abang has reduced the amount of time she spends in the car traveling from her home to work — which previously had taken about an hour — to a matter of a few minutes.
The road is supposed to double the capacity of the Antasari route, which connects densely populated areas in South Jakarta to business centers at the heart of the city.
Bunga, another commuter, says that her travel time from the South Jakarta administrative mayor’s office to Cipete via the Antasari elevated road takes only five to 10 minutes. Before that, the trip would normally take 30 minutes.
“I’m saving a lot of time with this Antasari flyover,” says Bunga, who lives in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta.
Officially launched on Jan. 15, Antasari is just the start of a series of elevated roadways that will make traveling less painful for commuters. They help bypass local traffic and avoid street crossings that tend to create long backups of cars, trucks and buses.
A 2011 report by global research firm Frost & Sullivan showed that Jakarta ranked the lowest out of 23 cities worldwide when it came to transportation systems, suggesting that commuters felt that the dire situation was destined to worsen if no measures were taken.
Too many cars and little development to expand roadways are increasing time spent on Jakarta’s roads for many commuters.
Construction of the Antasari road began more than two years ago under the administration of then-Governor Fauzi Bowo and was originally designed to anticipate surging traffic amid delayed construction of a mass rapid transit system.
The city’s public works office is also building a 2.3-kilometer elevated road stretching from Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta to Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta, through Jalan Prof. Dr. Satrio that then becomes Jalan Casablanca. It is expected to be completed by November this year. Construction for that roadway and the Antasari project cost a total of Rp 2.2 trillion ($227 million).
Manggas Rudy Siahaan, head of the Jakarta Public Works Office, says construction of the Antasari elevated roadway is part of the Jakarta administration’s strategy to reduce the traffic congestion in the city, particularly in the intersections along the Antasari and Prapanca streets to Blok M.
The average speed for a car on some major roads in the capital during peak hours in the late afternoon range from about 20 to 30 kilometers per hour.
The head of bridge construction at Jakarta Public Works, Agus Jendro, said that as of now, physical construction of the Casablanca elevated roadway is 95 percent complete. He says that construction was divided into three phases, with two completed and the last part — which extends over the area of Jalan KH Mas Mansyur — 90 percent done.
Construction of the Casablanca road, which began in 2011, has taken longer than the Antasari road because of a revision in its design, which included working around water pipes and a proposed station that would be part of a mass transit system, Agus says.
A monorail system along Jalan Rasuna Said, which crosses the Casablanca roadway, had been under construction before it was halted in 2004. But Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo recently revived plans to construct a monorail system for the city.
Agus says his office would focus on building more underpasses and elevated roads because they require fewer property purchases. Land acquisition typically places a big burden on the city’s budget and also takes a long time to conclude, he adds.
“We must build infrastructure that can support mass transportation like trains and busways, so more people can stop using private vehicles and start using public transportation. It will help reduce traffic congestion,” he says.
This year, the public works office plans to begin construction on 10 elevated roadway and underpasses to support the loopline development for the proposed mass transit system and for busways. The city has set aside Rp 200 billion for the projects and hopes to fast-track them for development so that they can be in use as early as next year.
Agus says his office is also planning to build an access road to the Pulogebang inter-city and inter-province bus terminal in East Jakarta. He said Rp 54.7 billion has been allocated for the project.
Another project currently being discussed by the public works office is the construction of an elevated road to support the busway route from Cawang, East Jakarta, to Ciledug, Tangerang.
Even with the construction of elevated roadways, some commuters