BY BRENDA CH'NG

STARTING next month, Jalan 14/19 in Section 14 Petaling Jaya will be turned into a one-way street to improve traffic flow in the busy commercial area.

Currently, the narrow lane connecting Jalan 14/14 and Jalan 14/20 caters to two-way traffic. It is often congested and dangerous because of double-parked vehicles. In addition, there are 11 food trucks along the short stretch.

Motorists from Jalan 14/20 will no longer be able to turn right into Jalan 14/19 to get to Jalan 14/14. Instead, they will have to drive down to Jalan 14/21 and turn right into Jalan 14/14.

Those from Jalan 14/14 can still turn into Jalan 14/19, that is located between Pos Malaysia and Maybank, and get onto Jalan 14/20.

The only difference is that soon, double-parked vehicles will not obstruct traffic as the road will be left with more space.

Petaling Jaya city councillor Lim Yi Wei said the double-parked cars were only for short periods of time.

“From our observation, the drivers just stop for a few minutes to buy food from the food trucks, especially during the lunch rush hour from 12.20pm to 1.30pm,” said Lim during a visit to the site.

She admitted that she too had been stuck in a jam on that particular road numerous times.

The current two-way traffic system is also said to be dangerous for motorists from Jalan 14/20 turning into Jalan 14/19, as there were many blind spots that can cause accidents.

Errant motorists who turn onto Jalan 14/19 would disregard the traffic flow, even driving in the lane meant for traffic from the opposite direction and weaving in and out of moving traffic.

Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) had previously planned to install a divider to separate the traffic flow but the proposed solution was scrapped because the road was not wide enough.

Another proposal from MBPJ was off to close Jalan 14/19 to traffic, but this did not sit well with most of the stakeholders, including Lim.

Bukit Gasing assemblyman R. Rajiv instead proposed for the road to be turned into a one-way street.

“Rajiv proposed this last year and I submitted the proposal in March this year, we are glad it will be implemented soon,” said Lim.

The date for implementation of the one-way traffic flow has not been confirmed and will only be announced after the full board meeting at the end of the month.

Banners and road signs will be put up by MBPJ soon to inform residents and visitors who frequent the commercial square.

MBPJ will monitor the situation for a month and if there are no objections, the one-way street will be permanent.

Rajiv, who was present during the site visit, said closing the road permanently to traffic would worsen the congestion.

“This is especially so at the junction from Jaya Shopping Centre toward Digital Mall, the section here is congested because of a bottleneck.

“If Jalan 14/19 was closed off to traffic, there would be congestion at the turning into Jalan 14/17

“Keeping Jalan 14/19 open and making it one-way flow will ease the traffic load on Jalan 14/17 and Jalan 14/20,” he added.