By Phuah Ken Lin and Looi Sue-Chern

GEORGE TOWN, MALAYSIA - Thousands of motorists were stranded in various parts of the state yesterday by an eight-hour closure of the Penang Bridge for a marathon.

The bumper-to-bumper traffic standstill stretched 1.5km from the ferry terminal in Weld Quay to the courthouse in Light Street was seen as motorists were forced to use the ferry due to the bridge closure.

The situation was chaotic at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal, where the nearby Jalan Bagan Luar-Jalan Chain Ferry junction was choked with vehicles, as motorists waited several hours to enter the flyover leading to the ferry terminal.

According to traffic policemen there, the situation had been that way since the bridge was closed to traffic from 2am.

Many factory workers on their Sunday shift, like Suppa Verasingam, 32, who works at the Prai Industrial Zone, were late for work.

Suppa, who was at the Raja Tun Uda ferry terminal, said Penang Port Sdn Bhd could have eased the congestion had it deployed all its eight ferries, instead of six.

Another factory worker, Mohamad Azizi Halim, 30, said the state government should consider relocating the event next year as the bridge closure caused inconvenience to the public.

Meanwhile, the route leading to the bridge was almost deserted, with motorists being redirected by police to the Prai Industrial Zone.

Several motorists, including visitors from other states, were seen waiting by the roadside of Jalan Perusahaan in the industrial zone for the bridge to reopen. Among them were four wedding entourages heading for the island.

A member of one of the entourages from Kepala Batas said they preferred to wait for the bridge to reopen as they knew the jam at the ferry terminal was very bad.

"Holding such an event is fine as long as the parties involved take care in informing everyone, including people outside of the state," he said, referring to the marathon.

Estate owner Lim Choo Yam, 61, was waiting anxiously to get his Indonesian maid to the Penang International Airport in Bayan Lepas in time to check in for her noon flight to Medan.

State traffic police operations chief Deputy Supt K. Wari said the jam was cleared within 30 minutes after the bridge and Jelutong Expressway were reopened at about 10am.

A spokesman for budget airline Firefly said 20 of its passengers bound for Medan and Kuala Lumpur from Penang missed their flights.

"The jam this year is considered minimal compared to previous years. The cars were queuing for their turn to get on the ferry.

"Although there was a ferry every seven minutes, there was still a queue due to the school holidays," he said.

--The Star/ANN