Fuyong Estate Residents Irked As They Need To Pass ERP Gantry To Make U-Turn

Source : The New Paper, October 17, 2007

U-turn U pay? LTA: New U-turn will be created for residents

THE residents of this Upper Bukit Timah estate were upset when they saw an ERP gantry being constructed just down the road.

Residents from Fuyong Estate, such as Mr and Mrs Anto Nur, will need to pass the ERP gantry to make U-turn towards Woodlands. Picture: KENNETH KOH

It meant that every time they left their homes, they would have to pay ERP charges.

Fuyong Estate residents must first make a left turn from Jalan Asas onto Upper Bukit Timah road towards town.

To travel in the opposite direction, they must make a U-turn after the point where the gantry is being built.

Said one resident, Mr Anto, 60, a retiree: 'I don't understand why they would build an ERP gantry here.

'There's no way we can avoid it no matter which way we go, we have to go through it.'

Mr Anto, his wife and their two children have been living in their Fuyong Estate house, just off Upper Bukit Timah Road, for more than 20 years.

The residents were even considering a petition until The New Paper checked with the Land Transport Authority (LTA).

As it turns out, the residents had worried for nothing.

LTA spokesman Suhana Kharudin said the positioning of the ERP gantry is not a mistake.

'A U-turn will be created along Upper Bukit Timah Road for motorists coming out of Jalan Asas, before the ERP gantry is operational,' she said.

She added that the ERP gantry would only be activated when congestion builds up, and traffic conditions warrant the implementation of ERP.

But residents are still surprised.

Said Mr Anto: 'It just seems like an unlikely place for an ERP gantry to be built,' he said.

An announcement on LTA's One.Motoring website said that with the introduction of a new ERP gantry at the south-bound BKE, traffic at Upper Bukit Timah Road may deteriorate as motorists avoid the BKE.

This justifies the need for an ERP gantry along the south-bound Upper Bukit Timah Road after Hume Avenue, to alleviate congestion if necessary.

Mrs Anto is relieved by news of the new U-turn.

She said: 'We send our children to school and work, and sometimes I meet my friends in the morning - I go out to exercise, and also to shop.

'Unfortunately, we don't just leave once in the morning and come back in the evening.'

The family's schedule means Mr Anto and his wife have to drive past the gantry up to seven times every day.

Another person who was relieved to hear the news is Mr Wong Yuen Lik, 36, who initially said he, too, planned on petitioning against the construction of the gantry.

He saw the half-constructed gantry and confirmed his fears after reading the announcement on the LTA website.

He had even written a letter to the LTA about his concerns on the gantry.

Said Mr Wong: 'I'm relieved in a way, because I won't have to pass the gantry before making a U-turn.'

But he felt that LTA could have planned it better.

'If the LTA had first consulted with residents of the area, they may have been able to avoid the inconvenience of moving the U-turn so many times,' he said.