Those who are using the main highways tomorrow and Friday (February 8 and 9) will be able to enjoy toll-free travel. The government will spend an estimated RM42.99 million to provide toll-exemption in conjunction with the coming Chinese New Year this weekend.
The exemption will only be for privately-registered vehicles, and will be effective from 12:01 am on Thursday until 11:59 pm on Friday. Toll will still be charged at the Sultan Iskandar Building and Tanjung Kupang toll plazas at the southern entry points to the country from Singapore.
Ban on heavy vehicle movement
Heavy vehicles will also be banned from travelling on the roads for 4 days, from February 8 to 13. This will help reduce unnecessary jams caused by the slow-moving vehicles or worse, long jams when a vehicle has an accident or breakdown.
The JPJ will be monitoring the highways and take strict action against any operator who does not comply with the ruling.
Increase in traffic volume expected
Meanwhile, PLUS Malaysia has said that it will use various strategies to manage the increase in the number of vehicles on the North-South Expressway. Typically, major festive seasons will see the traffic volume increasing to 2 million vehicles per day.
This year, the highway concessionaire expects a slight increase to 2.1 million vehicles based on vehicle movement trends at this point.
PLUS will deploy a total of 450 PLUSRonda personnel to carry out more patrols members to provide assistance to highway users. In addition, 1,500 staff will be on duty at toll plaza to ensure all 1,075 lanes are operational.
Extra toilets and parking spaces
Also provided are additional toilets as well as the provision of additional parking areas in selected locations in along the highway. This can help ease the problem of congestion at R&Rs when many people stop to take a break.
No lane closures unless necessary
“PLUS also pays special attention to aspects of traffic and incident management in the coming festive season. Therefore, there will be no lane closures implemented on highways between February 5 to February 16, 2024,” said PLUS Chief Operating Officer, Datuk Ir Zakaria Ahmad Zabidi.
However, lane closures may be unavoidable in certain cases if there are accidents or emergency/critical works that pose a risk to the safety of highway users, he added.
Smartlanes to be used at 14 locations
The Smartlane concept of creating an additional lane along the side will also be implemented in 14 locations. This will widen the highway at those points to help improve traffic flow. Motorists should look out for the yellow signs on the side of the road (shown below) which indicate the presence of Smartlanes and whether they are active.
