KPE To Cut Journey Times By Up To 25%

Source : The Business Times, September 20, 2008

SOUTH-EAST Asia's longest underground expressway opens at 10am today. And at a ceremony yesterday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called the completed Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) a significant addition to Singapore's road network.

A North South Expressway (NSE) will also be completed by 2020.

'It provides residents in north-east Singapore faster and more direct access to the city centre,' he pointed out. 'It also offers many motorists who now use the Central Expressway an alternative route.'

The 12-km KPE runs from East Coast Parkway (ECP) to the Tampines Expressway (TPE). Costing $1.7 billion to build, the KPE is part of the government's commitment to build roads to support economic growth.

The authorities say the KPE is expected to cut journey times in the north-east corridor as much as 25 per cent, benefiting motorists travelling between the north-east sector and the city, and to improve connectivity between the ECP, Pan-Island Expressway and TPE.

After the KPE, the government will build the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE), to be completed by 2013, to replace the ECP at Marina Bay as a high-speed link between the ECP and the Ayer Rajah Expressway.

It will be joined to the KPE, so residents from the north-east can get access to western Singapore. And a North South Expressway (NSE) will be completed by 2020 to provide an additional route for residents from the north to reach city areas.

The MCE and NSE are expected to cost more than $10 billion. And, on top of this, $3 billion will be spent on smaller projects over the next five years. These include road widening and extensions to relieve bottlenecks. For example, a new vehicle bridge over Sungei Serangoon will be built to give motorists travelling from Sengkang and Punggol new towns direct access to the KPE.

Also, there will be an extension of Bartley Road to Tampines Avenue 10 and widening of the PIE from the Bukit Timah Expressway to Adam Road.