1st phase to last till end-2009, but delays to traffic will be minimal
WORK will begin on Monday to widen the Central Expressway (CTE), but officials say the construction will cause minimal delays on Singapore's busiest thoroughfare.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will add a fourth lane on both sides of a 1.5km stretch between Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 and Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3.
The work, which will cost $16.9 million, is scheduled to last till the end of next year. The LTA said for most of that time, the expressway's six lanes will remain open.
However, it will close after 11pm on some nights for repaving and to remove an overhead pedestrian crossing.
This is the first phase of a plan to ease congestion on the CTE, which is plagued by traffic jams during morning and evening peak periods.
The Ministry of Transport hopes the work, together with the opening of the Circle Line, Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway and North-South Expressway, will ease congestion on the north-south stretch.
The LTA also plans to expand another 5.5km section of the CTE from the Pan-Island Expressway to Yio Chu Kang Road by 2011.
As part of the project, a new sheltered overhead bridge - replacing the old uncovered bridge - will be built to connect Housing Board blocks with the Serangoon Gardens private estate.
To keep the racket down, the LTA will use noise reduction blankets on its hoardings and put noise guards on machinery.
The authority will also use, for the first time, a more costly method of installing pipes running under the roads.
Unlike the usual 'cut-and- cover' method, where motorists have to be redirected to their lanes, the pipes are laid underground without the need to tear up lanes.
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