By Maria Almenoar

UNLIKE other major highways, the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) has been built with anti-congestion gantries.

A total of 16 gantries, for future Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) use should congestion build up, have been put up along the north-south link, which will open fully for use on Sept 20.

The move is a precautionary one and prompted by an overriding concern for safety, said Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Teo Ser Luck in Parliament on Wednesday.  

This safety concern is because of the nature of the KPE, he explained.

It is a 12km expressway but 9km of it is built as an underground tunnel.

'Incidents occurring in underground tunnels are more dangerous than if they occur on surface roads,? said Mr Teo.

Should there be a fire, vehicles may be trapped and the tragedy will 'multiply manifold' if the vehicles are lined up,
bumper-to-bumper, he added.

Hence, the Transport Ministry felt it was prudent to put up the ERP gantries as part of the tunnel's infrastructure, so
that there is no time lag in dealing with congestion should it build up.

"This rationale is unique to the KPE in view of the safety concerns and is not applied to arterial roads or other expressways on the surface," he said.

He was responding to Mr Baey Yam Keng (Tanjong Pagar GRC), who had asked why the gantries were being put up even before the expressway was open.

Mr Teo assured the House that the gantries would be switched on only when congestion hits a point that slows speeds below the optimal level and over a period of time.  

This article was first published in The Straits Times on August 29, 2008.

For more The Straits Times stories, click here.