Kuala Lumpur: PLUS Malaysia Berhad (PLUS) anticipates that its highway network will accommodate over 2.2 million vehicles daily during the peak periods of the upcoming Aidilfitri festive season. This projection highlights the significant increase in traffic expected as families travel for the celebrations.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, PLUS’s chief operating officer, Datuk Zakaria Ahmad Zabidi, specified that the peak traffic is expected between March 27-29, and April 4-6. This is due to the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations on March 31 and April 1, and the Qing Ming festival on April 4. Zakaria also noted that more than 70,000 vehicles are projected to use the East Coast Expressway 2 (LPT2) during this period.
Zakaria outlined that PLUS will implement three key strategies to facilitate smoother travel on the PLUS and LPT2 highways. These include efficient traffic and incident management, traffic distribution via the MyPLUS-TTA application, and additional public facilities for user convenience. Other measures include the implementation of ‘Op Selamat’ from March 29 to April 3, a temporary halt on roadworks along main routes from March 27 to April 7, and restrictions on heavy vehicles from March 29 to 30 and April 5 to 6. These strategies were discussed during a briefing at Persada PLUS, attended by key figures such as PDRM Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department director Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri Hassan Basri, Malaysian Highway Authority Central Region director Dr Mohammed Ridzuan Jahidin, and Road Transport Department (JPJ) deputy director (Operations) Tan Kim Loon.
To further enhance traffic management, PLUS will activate Smartlane routes at 28 traffic hotspots along the highways. This move aims to ease congestion at critical locations and includes an increase of three Smartlane locations compared to the recent Chinese New Year festive season. The additional locations are Putrajaya Ring Road KM P3.0-KM 4.0 (Eastbound), Pedas Linggi-Senawang KM 244-KM 248.5 (Northbound), and Tangkak-Jasin KM 174-KM 180.2 (Northbound).
In anticipation of the travel surge, over 5,000 PLUS personnel will be on duty to assist highway users. This team includes 1,471 toll plaza staff, 60 traffic monitoring personnel, 413 patrol members, 3,570 maintenance staff at rest areas and lay-bys, 319 RELA members, and 50 Emergency Response Team (ERT) members stationed at key locations.
Meanwhile, Datuk Seri Mohd Yusri highlighted that authorities have identified 25 ‘hotspot’ areas and 46 ‘black spot’ locations nationwide that are prone to accidents. Details regarding police deployment during the festive season will be announced during the ‘Op Selamat’ launch on March 23.