PAYA LEBAR resident Edward Tan, 44, will not have to put up with the bottleneck at the Bartley-Upper Paya Lebar Road junction on weekday mornings for much longer.
The engineer will have a smoother ride to his workplace in Kaki Bukit when an underpass being built now unclogs the intersection.
'I face a jam every day if I leave home after 7.30am,' Mr Tan said. 'I can't wait for the works to finish.'
The $43.8 million underpass, due to open this quarter, is one of a dozen road projects worth about $200 million to be completed this year.
Residents of Sengkang and Punggol stand to benefit from another project. They will have direct access to the Tampines end of the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE), courtesy of a three-lane bridge across Sungei Serangoon that links Buangkok Drive to Tampines Road.
This $33.9 million project, slated to be ready this quarter, is expected to ease traffic on the Seletar Expressway (SLE) and Central Expressway (CTE).
And on Jan 24, additional lanes on the SLE between Upper Thomson Road and east of Lentor Avenue will open to traffic.
The list of soon-to-be-completed projects includes a viaduct that links Bartley to Tampines, scheduled to open in the fourth quarter. The $51.6 million project will allow someone living in Bartley to zip to Ikea's megastore in Tampines North Drive 2 in 15 minutes.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said the roadworks completing this year will increase total road capacity appreciably.
'Improvements to the existing road network are as significant as the building of new expressways,' LTA chief executive Yam Ah Mee said.
'Road widening projects, for example, not only benefit motorists, but also bring meaningful improvements to those using public transport as well.'
Beyond 2009, several mega road projects are planned. These include a 5km underground- undersea expressway linking the KPE to the Ayer Rajah Expressway and a 21km partly underground expressway which links Thomson to the city. These two projects are expected to cost around $13 billion.
On Thursday, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said the Government would step up public sector construction spending despite the slowdown. Singapore will spend up to $20 billion on infrastructure this year, up from $15 billion last year and $6 billion in 2007.
Mr Cedric Foo, head of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, said: 'Proceeding with transport infrastructure construction now despite the downturn shows that the Government has its eyes on the long-term competitiveness of the Singapore economy.
'It will also enhance Singapore's standing as an efficient and liveable city.'
This article was first published in The Straits Times on Jan 24, 2009.
