PLUS EXPECTS OVER 2.2 MILLION VEHICLES DAILY ON ITS HIGHWAY DURING AIDILFITRI EXODUS

SUBANG, March 19 (Bernama) -- PLUS Malaysia Berhad (PLUS) anticipates more than 2.2 million vehicles will use its highway network daily during peak periods of the upcoming Aidilfitri festive season.

Its chief operating officer Datuk Zakaria Ahmad Zabidi said the peak traffic is expected between March 27-29, and April 4-6, due to Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations on March 31 and April 1, as well as the Qing Ming festival on April 4.

He also projected that over 70,000 vehicles would use the East Coast Expressway 2 (LPT2) during this period.

"As part of our preparations, PLUS will implement three key strategies to facilitate smoother travel on the PLUS and LPT2 highways. These include efficient traffic and incident management, traffic distribution via the MyPLUS-TTA application, and additional public facilities for user convenience.

"Other measures include the implementation of ‘Op Selamat’ from March 29 to April 3, a temporary halt on roadworks along main routes from March 27 to  April 7, and restrictions on heavy vehicles from March 29 to 30 and April 5 to 6," he said during a briefing on PLUS preparations at Persada PLUS today.

Also present  were PDRM Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department director Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri, Malaysian Highway Authority Central Region director Dr Mohammed Ridzuan Jahidin, and Road Transport Department (JPJ) deputy director (Operations) Tan Kim Loon.

To enhance traffic management during the festive season, Zakaria said PLUS will activate Smartlane routes at 28 traffic hotspots along highways to ease congestion at critical locations.

"This marks an increase of three Smartlane locations compared to 25 during the recent Chinese New Year festive season. The additional locations include Putrajaya Ring Road KM P3.0-KM 4.0 (Eastbound), Pedas Linggi-Senawang KM 244-KM 248.5 (Northbound), and Tangkak-Jasin KM 174-KM 180.2 (Northbound)," he added.

Additionally, over 5,000 PLUS personnel will be on duty to assist highway users, including 1,471 toll plaza staff, 60 traffic monitoring personnel, 413 patrol members, 3,570 maintenance staff at rest areas and lay-bys, 319 RELA members, and 50 Emergency Response Team (ERT) members stationed at key locations.

Meanwhile, Mohd Yusri said authorities have identified 25 ‘hotspot’ areas and 46 ‘black spot’ locations nationwide that are prone to accidents.

When asked about police deployment during the festive season, he said details would be announced during  the ‘Op Selamat’ launch on March 23.

-- BERNAMA