ID :
62321
Tue, 05/26/2009 - 07:42
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/62321
The shortlink copeid
MOTORWAY AND WATERWAY ROLLED INTO ONE THE SMART WAY
By Rohana Mustaffa
KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 (Bernama) -- Betty (not her real name) was eager to test the new stretch of road in Kuala Lumpur - a shortcut and away from the traffic congestion leading south out of the city.
She was cruising along smoothly when, all of a sudden, she panicked. She
thought she was in the middle of nowhere!
Frantically, she dialled the emergency telephone number - 1-300-88-7188 - on
her mobile phone and summoned help.
Patrolmen came to her rescue on motorcycles and escorted her out of the
SMART - yes, the Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel which is both a motorway
and waterway rolled into one!
On the average, a motorist would not be in the tunnel for more than five
minutes during off-peak hours driving at 60km per hour, says Mohd Fuad Kamal
Ariffin, General Manager of the SMART, as he recalled the incident which
happened two years ago when the SMART had just opened for use.
That incident was one of several that occurred during the first few months
after the opening on 14 May 2007 of the world's longest multi-purpose tunnel,
with a double-deck motorway that is about 3km long and the stormwater tunnel,
9.7km long.
Today, more than 33,000 motorists use the SMART daily. It was built to
mitigate floods as well as to ease traffic congestion in Kuala Lumpur, and both
attributes can function simultaneously.
Mohd Fuad says it is the SMART standard operating procedure (SOP) for its
team of dedicated patrolmen to reach the site of distress in five minutes
anywhere along the motorway, and the management has not failed in adhering to
this procedure since.
The motorway tunnel provides an alternative route for motorists from the
south -- the Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Highway, the Federal Highway, Besraya and
East-West Link -- entering and exiting the city centre.
The objective is to reduce traffic congestion from the city's south to its
centre, slicing the usual travel time along the stretch from about 45 minutes to
15 to 20 minutes during peak hours, says Mohd Fuad.
The stormwater tunnel was built to mitigate around 45 per cent of the floods
in the city centre which threaten the financial district in and around Masjid
Jamek, Lebuh Ampang and Jalan Melaka.
The SMART Ronda (patrol) team, which is part of the management effort to
guarantee the safety and comfort of motorists using the motorway, patrols the
highway round-the-clock to render assistance in the time of need.
"We stress 5K in our operations -- kecekapan (efficiency), keselamatan
(security), keselesaan (comfort), kualiti (quality) and keuntungan (benefit) --
in making motorists feel secure, comfortable and confident driving inside the
tunnel," says Mohd Fuad.
The Motorway Control Centre, which is the nerve of the operations, is manned
round-the-clock by trained traffic controllers to ensure smooth traffic flow
along the SMART tunnel. They monitor the tunnel via CCTVs that allow them to
have an overall view of the entire motorway.
Mohd Fuad says the SMART ERT, a 24-hour standby emergency response team,
works closely with the police, hospitals and the fire department, and responds
immediately to emergencies or accidents inside the tunnel.
"Another fact not known to many is that our SMART tunnel allows
uninterrupted radio and mobile phone coverage. Motorists and their passengers
can continue to listen to their favourite radio stations and make or receive
calls on their mobile phones while underground," he said.
The SMART also provides a variable messaging system to keep motorists
informed of any traffic advice or message to help them avoid any inconvenience
or incident and, in general, to facilitate the flow of traffic.
Fifteen emergency exits are found at 250-metre intervals in the tunnel, and
there are six escape shafts leading to the surface. Emergency or SOS telephones
are available at all exits.
Mohd Fuad says that on the average a motorist would not be driving in the
tunnel for more than five minutes during off-peak hours at the normal driving
speed of 60km per hour so as to ensure that there would be no congestion
underground.
If a traffic queue takes up more than two-thirds of the tunnel's stretch,
other vehicles are prevented entry to allow those inside to make their way out
effortlessly, he explains.
He says that for safety reasons, only cars, MPVs and SUVs not exceeding two
metres in height are allowed into the tunnel, adding that the SMART has
organised practice drills with the National Security Council on safety measures
to be taken in any eventuality, including handling vehicles with high
inflammable materials underground.
Being the first motorway with a dual purpose and the longest stormwater
tunnel in South East Asia as well as the second longest in Asia, maintenance,
including cleanliness, remains a top priority.
"Everything is important to us . from the smallest light bulb to the water
flow operation and flood prevention," he says, adding that it is a 24-7 job that
requires constant attention.
Good maintenance is also vital to guaranteeing safety in the motorway
tunnel. As Mohd Fuad points out, the common question at the initial stage of its
operation was how safe the tunnel is.
Regular checks on some of the unique features of the tunnel are done without
fail, for example weekly checks on the automated flood control gates, the water
tight gates on either end of the motorway tunnel within the stormwater section.
The gates convert the system into a flood tunnel to divert floodwaters from
the holding water basin and storage reservoir into the Kerayong river and back
into the Klang river.
Both the entrances and exits of the motorway tunnel also have an added
feature of similar single flood control steel gates which are operated with a
hydraulic system.
"We will check the gates monthly since in the actual event of floods if the
road gates are not working we cannot operate the flood system and water will
overflow. The road gates separate the dry and wet areas inside the tunnel," he
says.
Another component that is frequently checked, at least twice a week, are the
water-tight doors that lead to the SMART equipment areas. On normal days, they
are used as cross passages between decks at 250-metre intervals.
The passages act as exits during emergencies but during a flood situation,
these doors have to be tightly closed, says Mohd Fuad.
For the monthly maintenance works that involve the whole major system of the
SMART tunnel, including software checks, the tunnel is required to be closed
from 11pm to 6am.
As for the tunnel cleanliness, the SMART outsources the service to Alam
Flora which has invented road sweepers specially for the tunnel. The cleaning
operations are done at night with minimum disruption to traffic flow.
Mohd Fuad says the SMART tunnel is also equipped with ventilation or escape
shafts at one-kilometre intervals within the motorway, and to protect the system
during floods, the system has a series of shafts, each containing an exhaust and
fresh air injector.
This design enables the fans situated outside the SMART tunnel to create a
longitudinal flow in the tunnel between the shafts that permit the air in the
tunnel to be continuously renewed and to enable extraction of exhaust fumes.
The feature also allows smoke control in the event of a fire.
Mohd Fuad says that in ensuring the SMART system and its operations are at
their best, monitoring is also undertaken by two agencies - the Malaysian
Highway Authority (LLM) and the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (JPS).
"My Key Performance Indicator for the SMART highway is it should be in the
top five amongst the 23 highways managed by LLM, especially in the Klang
Valley," he says.
JPS, on the other hand, focuses on the SMART handling of the flood issue
and, so far according to Mohd Fuad , the SMART has succeeded in preventing seven
major floods in the city and has successfully diverted stormwater from the
holding pond in Kampung Berembang to Sungai Kerayong 22 times last year.
But when a massive flood occurred on March 3 in the city, the role of the
SMART was inevitably questioned by the public.
Mohd Fuad explains that the flash flood happened when the bulk of the
intense heavy rainfall was concentrated in the nearby catchments and the heavy
rainstorm caused one of the rivers to swell and overflow in a number of
low-lying areas, like in the vicinity of the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC).
These rivers are beyond the catchment areas of the SMART tunnel system,
he says.
However, on the same day, the SMART system successfully diverted a total of
700,000 cubic metres of floodwaters in the Kampung Berembang Holding Pond to the
Taman Desa Attenuation Pond via the tunnel. As a result, the rivers in the
vicinity of the Masjid Jamek LRT station did not overflow.
Mohd Fuad says the SMART's role in mitigating floods in the area works on
three principle modes of operation based on the flood discharge at the Klang
River/Ampang River confluence and the operation status of the motorway.
In the first mode, under normal conditions where there is no storm or
rainfall is low, no floodwater will be diverted into the system.
The second mode is activated when there is a moderate storm. Floodwater is
then diverted into the bypass tunnel in the lower channel of the tunnel while
the motorway is still open to traffic.
The motorway will only be closed in the third mode of operation. However,
sufficient time is allocated to allow the last vehicle to exit the motorway
before the automated water-tight gates are opened to allow the floodwater
through.
The motorway will be reopened to traffic within 48 hours after the closure
with a spanking clean tunnel and everything back to the original condition.
Two years into its operation, the SMART, according to Mohd Fuad, is
contemplating reducing the number of closures of the tunnel even in the Mode 3
operation, but avoiding the floods and the safety of motorists are still the
priority.
"We will study the data (rain and water) and discuss with the JPS. We
believe it is possible. For example, heavy rain in Ampang will trigger Mode 3 to
operate but when the city is still dry, we can avoid closure," he says.
People, especially the business community around the Masjid Jamek and nearby
areas, benefit the most from the existence of the SMART tunnel and they have
long stopped complaining of floods affecting or ruining their business.
If the SMART can reduce the Mode 3 calls for closure but, at the same time,
undertake flood mitigation, keep the motorway safe for use and maintain
undisrupted traffic, then the public will be very much appreciative, says Mohd
Fuad.
-- BERNAMA
KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 (Bernama) -- Betty (not her real name) was eager to test the new stretch of road in Kuala Lumpur - a shortcut and away from the traffic congestion leading south out of the city.
She was cruising along smoothly when, all of a sudden, she panicked. She
thought she was in the middle of nowhere!
Frantically, she dialled the emergency telephone number - 1-300-88-7188 - on
her mobile phone and summoned help.
Patrolmen came to her rescue on motorcycles and escorted her out of the
SMART - yes, the Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel which is both a motorway
and waterway rolled into one!
On the average, a motorist would not be in the tunnel for more than five
minutes during off-peak hours driving at 60km per hour, says Mohd Fuad Kamal
Ariffin, General Manager of the SMART, as he recalled the incident which
happened two years ago when the SMART had just opened for use.
That incident was one of several that occurred during the first few months
after the opening on 14 May 2007 of the world's longest multi-purpose tunnel,
with a double-deck motorway that is about 3km long and the stormwater tunnel,
9.7km long.
Today, more than 33,000 motorists use the SMART daily. It was built to
mitigate floods as well as to ease traffic congestion in Kuala Lumpur, and both
attributes can function simultaneously.
Mohd Fuad says it is the SMART standard operating procedure (SOP) for its
team of dedicated patrolmen to reach the site of distress in five minutes
anywhere along the motorway, and the management has not failed in adhering to
this procedure since.
The motorway tunnel provides an alternative route for motorists from the
south -- the Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Highway, the Federal Highway, Besraya and
East-West Link -- entering and exiting the city centre.
The objective is to reduce traffic congestion from the city's south to its
centre, slicing the usual travel time along the stretch from about 45 minutes to
15 to 20 minutes during peak hours, says Mohd Fuad.
The stormwater tunnel was built to mitigate around 45 per cent of the floods
in the city centre which threaten the financial district in and around Masjid
Jamek, Lebuh Ampang and Jalan Melaka.
The SMART Ronda (patrol) team, which is part of the management effort to
guarantee the safety and comfort of motorists using the motorway, patrols the
highway round-the-clock to render assistance in the time of need.
"We stress 5K in our operations -- kecekapan (efficiency), keselamatan
(security), keselesaan (comfort), kualiti (quality) and keuntungan (benefit) --
in making motorists feel secure, comfortable and confident driving inside the
tunnel," says Mohd Fuad.
The Motorway Control Centre, which is the nerve of the operations, is manned
round-the-clock by trained traffic controllers to ensure smooth traffic flow
along the SMART tunnel. They monitor the tunnel via CCTVs that allow them to
have an overall view of the entire motorway.
Mohd Fuad says the SMART ERT, a 24-hour standby emergency response team,
works closely with the police, hospitals and the fire department, and responds
immediately to emergencies or accidents inside the tunnel.
"Another fact not known to many is that our SMART tunnel allows
uninterrupted radio and mobile phone coverage. Motorists and their passengers
can continue to listen to their favourite radio stations and make or receive
calls on their mobile phones while underground," he said.
The SMART also provides a variable messaging system to keep motorists
informed of any traffic advice or message to help them avoid any inconvenience
or incident and, in general, to facilitate the flow of traffic.
Fifteen emergency exits are found at 250-metre intervals in the tunnel, and
there are six escape shafts leading to the surface. Emergency or SOS telephones
are available at all exits.
Mohd Fuad says that on the average a motorist would not be driving in the
tunnel for more than five minutes during off-peak hours at the normal driving
speed of 60km per hour so as to ensure that there would be no congestion
underground.
If a traffic queue takes up more than two-thirds of the tunnel's stretch,
other vehicles are prevented entry to allow those inside to make their way out
effortlessly, he explains.
He says that for safety reasons, only cars, MPVs and SUVs not exceeding two
metres in height are allowed into the tunnel, adding that the SMART has
organised practice drills with the National Security Council on safety measures
to be taken in any eventuality, including handling vehicles with high
inflammable materials underground.
Being the first motorway with a dual purpose and the longest stormwater
tunnel in South East Asia as well as the second longest in Asia, maintenance,
including cleanliness, remains a top priority.
"Everything is important to us . from the smallest light bulb to the water
flow operation and flood prevention," he says, adding that it is a 24-7 job that
requires constant attention.
Good maintenance is also vital to guaranteeing safety in the motorway
tunnel. As Mohd Fuad points out, the common question at the initial stage of its
operation was how safe the tunnel is.
Regular checks on some of the unique features of the tunnel are done without
fail, for example weekly checks on the automated flood control gates, the water
tight gates on either end of the motorway tunnel within the stormwater section.
The gates convert the system into a flood tunnel to divert floodwaters from
the holding water basin and storage reservoir into the Kerayong river and back
into the Klang river.
Both the entrances and exits of the motorway tunnel also have an added
feature of similar single flood control steel gates which are operated with a
hydraulic system.
"We will check the gates monthly since in the actual event of floods if the
road gates are not working we cannot operate the flood system and water will
overflow. The road gates separate the dry and wet areas inside the tunnel," he
says.
Another component that is frequently checked, at least twice a week, are the
water-tight doors that lead to the SMART equipment areas. On normal days, they
are used as cross passages between decks at 250-metre intervals.
The passages act as exits during emergencies but during a flood situation,
these doors have to be tightly closed, says Mohd Fuad.
For the monthly maintenance works that involve the whole major system of the
SMART tunnel, including software checks, the tunnel is required to be closed
from 11pm to 6am.
As for the tunnel cleanliness, the SMART outsources the service to Alam
Flora which has invented road sweepers specially for the tunnel. The cleaning
operations are done at night with minimum disruption to traffic flow.
Mohd Fuad says the SMART tunnel is also equipped with ventilation or escape
shafts at one-kilometre intervals within the motorway, and to protect the system
during floods, the system has a series of shafts, each containing an exhaust and
fresh air injector.
This design enables the fans situated outside the SMART tunnel to create a
longitudinal flow in the tunnel between the shafts that permit the air in the
tunnel to be continuously renewed and to enable extraction of exhaust fumes.
The feature also allows smoke control in the event of a fire.
Mohd Fuad says that in ensuring the SMART system and its operations are at
their best, monitoring is also undertaken by two agencies - the Malaysian
Highway Authority (LLM) and the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (JPS).
"My Key Performance Indicator for the SMART highway is it should be in the
top five amongst the 23 highways managed by LLM, especially in the Klang
Valley," he says.
JPS, on the other hand, focuses on the SMART handling of the flood issue
and, so far according to Mohd Fuad , the SMART has succeeded in preventing seven
major floods in the city and has successfully diverted stormwater from the
holding pond in Kampung Berembang to Sungai Kerayong 22 times last year.
But when a massive flood occurred on March 3 in the city, the role of the
SMART was inevitably questioned by the public.
Mohd Fuad explains that the flash flood happened when the bulk of the
intense heavy rainfall was concentrated in the nearby catchments and the heavy
rainstorm caused one of the rivers to swell and overflow in a number of
low-lying areas, like in the vicinity of the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC).
These rivers are beyond the catchment areas of the SMART tunnel system,
he says.
However, on the same day, the SMART system successfully diverted a total of
700,000 cubic metres of floodwaters in the Kampung Berembang Holding Pond to the
Taman Desa Attenuation Pond via the tunnel. As a result, the rivers in the
vicinity of the Masjid Jamek LRT station did not overflow.
Mohd Fuad says the SMART's role in mitigating floods in the area works on
three principle modes of operation based on the flood discharge at the Klang
River/Ampang River confluence and the operation status of the motorway.
In the first mode, under normal conditions where there is no storm or
rainfall is low, no floodwater will be diverted into the system.
The second mode is activated when there is a moderate storm. Floodwater is
then diverted into the bypass tunnel in the lower channel of the tunnel while
the motorway is still open to traffic.
The motorway will only be closed in the third mode of operation. However,
sufficient time is allocated to allow the last vehicle to exit the motorway
before the automated water-tight gates are opened to allow the floodwater
through.
The motorway will be reopened to traffic within 48 hours after the closure
with a spanking clean tunnel and everything back to the original condition.
Two years into its operation, the SMART, according to Mohd Fuad, is
contemplating reducing the number of closures of the tunnel even in the Mode 3
operation, but avoiding the floods and the safety of motorists are still the
priority.
"We will study the data (rain and water) and discuss with the JPS. We
believe it is possible. For example, heavy rain in Ampang will trigger Mode 3 to
operate but when the city is still dry, we can avoid closure," he says.
People, especially the business community around the Masjid Jamek and nearby
areas, benefit the most from the existence of the SMART tunnel and they have
long stopped complaining of floods affecting or ruining their business.
If the SMART can reduce the Mode 3 calls for closure but, at the same time,
undertake flood mitigation, keep the motorway safe for use and maintain
undisrupted traffic, then the public will be very much appreciative, says Mohd
Fuad.
-- BERNAMA
