CNA : New road network in Marina Bay area will serve upcoming developments there

New road network in Marina Bay area will serve upcoming developments there
By Saifulbahri Ismail, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 14 January 2010 1342 hrs

SINGAPORE: A new road network will be built progressively in the new downtown Marina Bay area as part of the Land Transport Authority's new developments in 2010.

This is to serve upcoming developments such as the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort and the Marina Bay Financial Centre.

Motorists travelling to the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort can soon use a new bridge and road.

The Bay Bridge connects directly across the Marina Centre to Marina Bay.

Motorists can then continue along Bayfront Avenue towards the Marina Bay Financial Centre.

With the opening of the 1.4 kilometre bridge and road, a new ERP gantry will also be installed.

Yam Ah Mee, chief executive, Land Transport Authority, said: "Together with the Bayfront Avenue road, there's a need to adjust the CBD cordon and having a new ERP gantry at that location. So that the overall, CBD cordon comprising of the Orchard cordon, the Shenton-Chinatown cordon and the Marina City cordon remains intact.

“And that's the reason why we are closing the CBD cordon and adjusting it with this new ERP gantry."

The Bayfront Avenue ERP gantry will be up by end-March.

To further adjust the CBD cordon, three more ERP gantries will be erected and will be operational in the third quarter of this year.

The existing gantry along Central Boulevard will be replaced by a new one at Marina Way.
Two other gantries will be on the other side of Bayfront Avenue and Marina Station Road.

In other developments, motorists can look forward to the opening of the Bartley viaduct on Sunday.

The 1.9 kilometre long viaduct marks the completion of the Bartley extension project.

Mr Yam said: "With the opening of the Bartley viaduct, motorists can expect travelling along Tampines Avenue 10 to Bartley to have a time saving of about 10 to 15 minutes and also alternatives to PIE. We expect that up to about five to 10 per cent of motorists, may consider alternatives of travelling on the Bartley viaduct instead of going through PIE."

The Bartley Road extension project, which started in 2000, costs S$208 million. - CNA/vm