PWD urged to rethink road design at entrance to villages
KOTA KINABALU: Penampang member of parliament Darell Leiking has urged the Public Works Department and the local authorities to rethink locating traffic lights or a roundabout lane fronting the Kampung Limbanak-Kampung Kituau entrance and exit.
He said Kampung Limbanak has a primary and secondary school (St Aloysius Primary and SMK Limbanak) with thousands of students and teachers for the morning and afternoon sessions. There are several villages in the same vicinity as Kampung Limbanak and all the villagers use the same entrance and exit into the main road.
Darell said that based on the visual of the traffic flow using the likely road design (during the construction period), the villagers and students will be heavily inconvenienced and would get to school late.
“The road design would likely cause numerous hazards or dangers to exiting vehicles when it moves into the main road as vehicles exiting Kampung Limbanak, Kampung Bokok, Kampung Kituau and many other villages in the vicinity would have to exit and do a U-turn either at the entry to Kampung Sugud or Kampung Maang,” he opined.
The same problems are also likely to be faced by residents at the Kampung Dambai entrance junction into Kampung Penampang Proper and several villages in the vicinity of Kampung Penampang Proper, he said.
According to Darell, St Michael’s Secondary School and St Joseph’s Primary School as well as the Maternity Home and residents in the area use the same entrance and exit at the Kampung Dambai junction and the inconvenience is being felt there along with the new road.
“I would urge the Public Works Department and the local authorities to explain the rationale for the current road traffic design and the absence of a safer alternative to the same,” he said.