NICOLL HIGHWAY (Improvement to traffic flow)

Mr Eugene Yap Giau Cheng asked the Minister for Home Affairs whether he is aware that there still are traffic jams along the Guillemard Circus end of Nicoll Highway before football matches, despite the reversal of normal traffic flow along the central carriageway of the Highway since April, 1974, and the assurance by the then Minister for Home Affairs and Education that "the traffic police will continue to monitor traffic conditions and direct traffic flow along Nicoll Highway when there are big matches at the National Stadium", and if the traffic police have further plans to improve the traffic flow along Nicoll Highway, particularly at the bottleneck immediately outside the National Stadium car park.

The Minister for Home Affairs (Mr Chua Sian Chin): Mr Speaker, Sir, as I promised in June 1978 (Hansard, 14th June 1978, Vol. 37 cols. 1563-4), the Traffic Police have continued to deploy policemen at the Guillemard Circus and roads leading to the National Stadium to direct traffic whenever major matches and other functions are held at the Stadium.

Since then, a concrete pedestrian overhead bridge across Nicoll Highway, in front of the People's Association, and another pedestrian overhead bridge at Mountbatten Road, in front of the School for the Deaf, have been built. The spectators at the National Stadium are reminded to use these facilities through messages flashed on the scoreboard in the Stadium. Traffic policemen are also deployed to ensure that the pedestrians do use these facilities.

The new pedestrian bridges, the deployment of Traffic policemen at strategic places and the reversal of normal traffic flow along the central carriageway of Nicoll Highway have all helped to improve the traffic flow. However, there will still be congestion whenever there are major events at the National Stadium because of the sheer volume of traffic going through Guillemard Circus. When the East Coast Parkway is completed by the end of 1981, it will significantly reduce the congestion at Guillemard Circus by relieving it of through-traffic between the City and the Mountbatten/Katong area.

Many of the spectators who go to the National Stadium in cars arrive just a few minutes before the event begins. As a result, car park attendants are unable to cope and this aggravates the congestion outside the National Stadium car park. The National Sports Council is looking into the feasibility of selling car park labels to spectators in advance.