It’s a slow, slow drive back to the city
CNY travel rush back sees heavy traffic on major highways
PETALING JAYA: The travel rush back from the Chinese New Year holiday celebration has started with heavy traffic recorded along major highways across the country.
According to a spokesman from PLUS Malaysia Berhad, in the north, heavy traffic was recorded since afternoon from Juru to Bandar Cassia in Penang followed by slow traffic from Changkat Jering to Kuala Kangsar due to hilly roads.
The spokesman also noted that heavy traffic jam was recorded from Kuala Kangsar to Sungai Perak heading towards the Menora tunnel.
“We also recorded slow traffic from Ipoh to Simpang Pulai and from Gopeng to Tapah due to hilly roads,” he said yesterday.
Other roads that were congested in the north include from Tapah heading towards Sungkai and from Sungkai, roads show normal traffic.
In Kuala Lumpur, slow traffic was recorded at Sungai Buaya heading towards Rawang.
“We saw heavy traffic with a lot of vehicles throughout the day,” he added.
In the South, traffic was slow from Kulai to Senai, Sedenak to Simpang Renggam, Johor, followed by Machap, Melaka, to Sedenak Johor.
“Slow traffic was recorded at Ayer Hitam to Yong Peng, from Yong Peng to Pagoh in both ways due to hilly roads which caused some traffic jam,” he said.
He also noted that heavy traffic was seen from Bukit Gambir heading towards Jasin, slow traffic from Ayer Keroh heading towards Simpang Ampat, Alor Gajah and Pedas Linggi to Seremban,” he said.
Earlier in the morning, the usually-busy North-South Expressway (Plus) reported no congestion along any stretch of the highway.
“However, a motorcycle accident occurred at the 227.8km (from Simpang Ampat to Pedas Linggi). No lane was blocked and traffic is under control,” said the spokesman. Meanwhile, a Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) spokesman said all routes on the East Coast Highway 1 and 2 reported smooth traffic.
Motorists can obtain the latest traffic information via Plus’ toll-free line at 1800-88-0000; or its Twitter account at www.twitter.com/plustrafik; or via the LLM line at 180088-7752; or its Twitter account at www.twitter.com/llminfotrafik.