After multiple delays, Braddell Road flyover to open on June 11

SINGAPORE — After being dogged by a string of delays since work began in 2012, a new flyover at Braddell Road will open on June 11, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced on Monday (May 22).

The flyover will offer motorists a direct link from Lorong 6 Toa Payoh to Upper Serangoon Road and Bartley Road via the Braddell Underpass — sparing them the need to jostle with traffic bound for the Central Expressway (CTE) or Bishan Street 11 on Braddell Road. 

As part of the project, the LTA added that a stretch of Braddell Road, between Toa Payoh North Flyover and the CTE, has also been expanded to dual five-lanes, up from dual three-lanes.

The authority will also install centre-dividers along some stretches of Braddell Road. The remaining roadworks, which can be carried out only after the flyover opens, is slated to finish by the end of next month.

With the changes, National University of Singapore transport researcher Lee Der-Horng said there will be many points from which traffic — heading to various destinations — fans out, and motorists would have “more direct” access to the Braddell Underpass, for instance. This would help to ease traffic conditions. 

“From a traffic-network-flow point of view, the most ideal situation is (that) we separate the traffic flow … (and) try to streamline the  traffic as much as we can … This will help the overall smoothness,” said Prof Lee. Nevertheless, motorists would take some time to get used to the new layout, he said. 

To get motorists up to speed with the new road network, the LTA will roll out a series of three videos on its website and YouTube channel, pointing out the various routes which motorists can take while travelling in the area. 

The Braddell Road flyover, initially due for completion at the end of 2015, was held up three times. Work had to stop temporarily after local construction company Hexagroup, which clinched the tender in 2012, ran into financial trouble and had its contract axed by the LTA in 2015. 

Feng Ming Construction later bagged the second tender, and was to have wrapped up construction by the end of last year. 

But that deadline came and went, and the project’s completion date was yet again dragged until the first quarter of this year. In December last year, The Straits Times had quoted an unnamed Feng Ming Construction officer familiar with the matter as citing “unforeseen hurdles” brought on by varying approaches the two contractors took towards the project. Also slowing the project down were the environmental constraints posed by the hilly section of the worksite in Bishan, the officer had said. 

At the end of the first quarter, the project was again delayed until June, after a stop-work order was imposed on Feng Ming Construction in February for safety violations. Work restarted after the order was lifted nearly two weeks later.