Bali airport roundabout to be closed for underpass construction mid-October, don’t park cars in street on alternative routes: Police

A rendering of the underpass to be completed at the Ngurah Rai roundabout. Photo via Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing
A rendering of the underpass to be completed at the Ngurah Rai roundabout. Photo via Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing

Traffic-stopping construction should begin on the underpass to be carved out in front of Bali’s Ngurah Rai Airport in the middle of the month.

Police have stated that they plan for the Ngurah Rai roundabout to be closed starting on Oct. 17, 2017 for the development of the Simpang Tugu Ngurah Rai Underpass.

The announcement comes after signs posted late in September confused everyone, mapping out alternative routes for when the underpass is in the works, with a project timeline listed as Oct. 1, 2017 until Aug. 30, 2018. But Oct. 1 came and went and traffic up til Tuesday has been flowing as usual through the Ngurah Rai intersection.

But now police have clarified that Oct. 17 is the big day—when South Bali’s traffic is going to be even crazier than usual.

“The project is planned to begin on Oct. 17,” Bali Police Traffic Unit Supt. Anak Agung Made Sudana said on Tuesday, as quoted by the Bali Post.

Once the project begins, the alternative routes mapped out by police on their poster will need to be utilized since the airport roundabout is to be totally closed, according to Sudana. 

The routes are far from direct, as the main artery connecting the Bukit Peninsula to the rest of the island will have to be cut off and people will have to use the Bali Mandara Toll to go around. The toll road went cash-free at the beginning of the month and has also been experiencing increased bottlenecking as motorists are still getting the hang of the new e-payment system.

Meanwhile, when the roundabout’s closed, people going to the airport will have to access I Gusti Ngurah Rai International through Jl. Raya Kuta, Sunset Road, Jl. Dewi Sri, and Jl. Raya Tuban.

With traffic diverted to these other, smaller roads, police are appealing to the public not to park their cars on the road, blocking traffic—an all too common sight in Bali.

“One of our efforts will be to curb street parking as a first step in anticipating traffic jams. When the project is in progress, our officers will be patrolling to monitor that there’s a smooth path. The routes to the airport should be clear of parking,” Sudana said.

To help nip illegal street parking in the bud, police are installing rope barriers to block cars from parking on these roads which will be getting a lot of traffic once the project begins, says Sudana.

The underpass is targeted for completion by the IMF-World Bank meeting in September 2018. It is not yet clear during how much of the total project timeline that the Ngurah Rai roundabout would need to be totally closed.



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