Traffic crawl on Penang Bridge due to routine work

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Bridge is clogged with traffic due to the temporary closure on the third lane on the islandbound side.

The short stretch near the midsection will be closed until the end of the month for a routine bridge work.

Sales executive Maria Lee, 36, said traffic was slow moving, adding that she was surprised there was no prior notice.

“I was driving to work around 10am and did not expect to be stuck in a traffic jam.

“I reached my office late,” she said yesterday.

On slow moving traffic yesterday, PLUS Malaysia Bhd (PLUS) strategic communications head Mohd Nizam Ismail said that the road closure was part of a routine bridge maintenance.

“The routine bridge maintenance work will end in August.

“Road users are told of the lane closure through electronic message boards and other communication channels,” he said.

It was earlier reported that all lanes on the midsection of the bridge were now open to traffic after the cable routine and maintenance works were completed 21 days ahead of schedule.

PLUS chief operating officer Zakaria Ahmad Zabidi was quoted as saying that the lanes were opened to users on Aug 1.

He said the scheduled Penang Bridge cable routine and maintenance works were divided into two phases.

Phase 1 was carried out from eastbound (Penang Island to Seberang Prai) from Aug 22, 2017, to Feb 11 this year, and Phase 2 was carried out from westbound (Seberang Prai to Penang Island) from Feb 26 until July 31.