Beware of Overcrowding at Toll Road Rest Areas

KOMPAS/PRIYOMBODO

Homecoming vehicles queue when they enter the Baruna 1 ferry from Pier 1 of the Merak ferry port, Cilegon, Banten, Thursday (28/4/2022) night.

The potential for overcrowding at the rest areas on toll roads must be well anticipated because it can cause traffic jams. Mudik (exodus) travelers are advised to go to rest areas outside the toll roads.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Traffic congestion on toll roads is expected to continue on Friday (29/4/2022) as the number of motorists has yet to show signs of declining. The overcrowding of travelers in rest areas along toll roads should be watched out because it can cause traffic jams to get worse.

The head of the operation section of the National Police’s traffic unit, Chief Commissioner Eddy Djunaedi, said the peak of the Idul Fitri exodus was expected to occur on Friday and Saturday (30/4). The heavy traffic had begun on Wednesday evening (27/4) and Thursday morning. "Two days ago there was an increase," said Eddy on Thursday afternoon.

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On Thursday, starting at around 5.30 p.m., the police together along with a number of related institutions implemented a one-way traffic and odd-even license plate traffic control system from kilometer marker (KM) 47 of the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road to KM 414 at the Kalikangkung tollgate in Semarang, Central Java, to reduce the traffic density.

A few hours after the traffic control system was enforced, the traffic flow on the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road was relatively smooth. However, based on Kompas' monitoring at 10.30 p.m. on Thursday, high traffic density was seen at the Cikampek Utama tollgate at KM 70 of the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road. The high density occurred in the left and right lane with a line of vehicles was seen in one of the lanes. At 11 p.m., officers began to divide the flow of vehicles so that they did not pile up in one lane.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Vehicles from the direction of Jakarta enter the Cikampek Utama Toll Gate at Kilometer 70 of the Jakarta-Cikampek Toll Road on Thursday (28/4/2022) night.

With such conditions, potential traffic jams on the toll roads on Friday (today) must be closely monitored. One of the factors causing the high traffic density is the lining up of vehicles at rest areas along the toll road.

On Thursday, overcrowding of vehicles was seen in a number of rest areas on the trans-Java toll road. At around 3 p.m., toll road operator PT Jasa Marga Tbk reported the overcrowding of vehicles at a rest area located near KM 57 on the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road.

"At 3 p.m., Western Indonesia Time, an overcrowding of vehicles was seen before the entry gate of a rest area at KM 57," said the head of Jasa Marga's Corporate Communication and Community Development, Dwimawan Heru.

Heru explained that on Thursday morning, a high density of vehicles was also seen at the Cikampek Utama tollgate, which occurred due the overcrowding of vehicles at the entrance of a rest area located at KM 86 of the Cikopo-Palimanan toll road .

In order to prevent the overcrowding of vehicles at rest areas, Jasa Marga has urged motorists to ensure that they have fully filled their gas tanks, have adequate electronic money on toll cards and other necessities.

During the closure, officers directed motorists to go to the next resting place at KM 228 of the Kanci-Pejagan toll road section.

High traffic density was also seen in a rest area at KM 207A of the Palimanan-Kanci toll road in Cirebon, West Java. On Thursday afternoon, officers closed the entrance to the rest area where it was then closed every 30 minutes according to the availability of parking space. During the closure, officers directed motorists to go to the next resting place at KM 228 of the Kanci-Pejagan toll road section.

ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

The peak of the 2022 New Year's return flow at the Palimanan Toll Gate, Cirebon Regency, West Java, Sunday (2/1/2022) afternoon.

The manager for operation of the rest area at KM 207A, Irwansyah Rinaldhi, said that the open-and-close system had been in effect since Tuesday (26/4) in line with the increase in the number of vehicles. "Usually, between 4,000 and 5,000 vehicles stop by per day. Now there are about 9,000 vehicles," he said.

Road shoulder

On the Pejagan-Pemalang toll road section Thursday afternoon, many vehicles were parked on the road shoulder as they were unable to enter the overcrowded rest area. Some of the passengers walked to the rest are while some others rolled out a mat in the empty space between the rest area and the toll road to unwind.

Head of operations for the Pejagan-Pemalang toll road, Ian Dwinanto, said most rest areas and tollgates along the toll road were overcrowded due to the sharp increase in the number of vehicles. On Wednesday (27/4), about 50,000 vehicles used the toll road. Normally, the average number of vehicles passing the toll road from Jakarta was about 18,000 per day.

“On Thursday, the number of the vehicles was estimated to reach 60,000 vehicles. The peak is likely to occur on 29-30 April with the number of vehicles estimated to reach 90,000 vehicles a day," said Ian.

He explained that travelers could also use rest areas outside the toll roads.

The Transportation Ministry’s Land Transportation Director General Budi Setiyadi, appealed to travelers not only to rely on rest areas on toll roads. He explained that travelers could also use rest areas outside the toll roads.

“Use a rest area in nearby town. If we only rely on rest areas on the toll road, there won’t be enough space," he said.

According to Budi, a number of resting places outside the toll road are actually not too far from the tollgates. He gave an example, when using the trans-Java toll road section in the western part of Central Java, travelers could rest in the towns of Brebes and Tegal. (NAD/TAM/JOL/GIO/OSA/IKI/XTI/WER/VIO/NCA/FRN/FLO)

(This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi)