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If you didn’t know, the Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel, or SMART for short, was launched and opened to public last Monday and has been in operation for about 2 weeks. They are testing the toll system, gauging the capacity of the tunnel to handle rush hour traffic, and giving the public a chance to check out Malaysia’s latest mega-project.

Usage of the tunnel will be free during this trial month, after which a toll fee will be charged. We speculated about the SMART toll charges earlier but there was no definite answer. As of now, the concessionaire, Gamuda, are still in negotiations with the government. Or at least that’s the impression that’s being given to the public. We’ll just have to wait till the official announcement to find out.

I’ve been through the tunnel, heading in and out of KL on several occasions. One word sums it up: convenience. They weren’t kidding when they said that the tunnel would cut down on travel time. A journey that would usually take 15 minutes during off-peak traffic took under 5 minutes via the tunnel. That would be compounded during rush hour.

Traffic into Kuala Lumpur city centre via the tunnel seems lighter than the one heading out. This is possibly due to the double exit points, one immediately after the Kampung Pandan roundabout (near RHB bank), and the second along Jalan Davis, behind Berjaya Time Square. On the other side, traffic is slower and more congested as it bottlenecks into the Jalan Sungai Besi along the TUDM airbase. So far, I haven’t run into any major traffic problems.

The tunnel itself is rather interesting. WL calls it a huge roller coaster, and it does feel like one. The low ceiling and narrow two lane road is claustrophobic. Although the speed limit is 60km/h within the tunnel, I’ve seen people speeding by at greater speeds. The concrete bumpy, uneven road surface is not suitable for high speeds, dangerous at the corners, and adds to the roller coaster feeling. They can’t use tar the roads as it is impossible to get the necessary machinery into the tunnel for the resurfacing job.

How it actually works
There’s been some confusion regarding the SMART flood mitigation system. There are actually three stages to SMART flood mitigation functionality. Stage one: Normal conditions, Stage two: Minor storms, and Stage three: Major storms.

The tunnel is actually divided into three sections. From the outside, there’s the illusion that there are two tunnels in operation, one going in and the other headed out of KL. In actual fact, both direction of traffic are using the same single tunnel. If you observe carefully, the ceiling of the road heading out of KL is rounded while the one heading into KL is squarish. This is because the tunnel is divided into three tiers. The top tier is for traffic going into the city, hence the rounded top, while the middle tier is for exiting the city. The lowest tier is used for drainage and flood water diversion during minor storms (Stage one and two).

The only time when the tunnel is closed to traffic is during major storms (Stage three), when the lower tier drainage can no longer handle the flood water diversion. At such a point, the entire tunnel will be closed to traffic. Motorists will be given sufficient time to clear the motorway before the upper tiers are turned into drainage. In such extreme cases, operations should resume 48 hours after flood mitigation.

Some gripes
Garmuda is well known for their eccentric road design that push the envelopes of sensibility. The highway and expressway projects that they’ve handled to date all have a new age design. Something that takes a little getting used to.

First timers might get into trouble, trying to get into the tunnel. Along Jalan Sungai Besi, the roads split into multiple two lane entry points, with two toll booths each. The leftmost split is for cash and Touch N’ Go payment method while the right entry caters only to Touch N’ Go and SMART Tag. It’s important to take note of this. There’s little signage or indication of the segregation. The only sign is painted on the road which is easy to miss when it gets dark.

Multiple feeds and splits in the road is a major problem as people become disoriented and uncertain on which lane to take. When traveling at speeds, this is a danger. Additionally, there’s little leeway when two or more roads join. Traffic on the smaller road has to join the traffic on the trunk road at an odd angle. If you’re off the beat in terms of speed, the trunk traffic is forced to slow down (or worse hit the emergency brakes). On the other hand, joining the trunk road at high speeds is just asking for an accident. A no-win situation.

It is as though the designers of the expressway expect the road users to be telepathically linked and have the same driving style. Frankly speaking, it’s difficult to read another driver’s actions and the road design just makes it that much more difficult. The result of all these conflicting factors was a major accident along the Sungai Besi SMART entry heading into KL. I believe this is the first accident since it began operation. I really suspect this is due to the bad road layout. And you can be assured that it won’t be the last accident.

Overall
As a whole, I think the SMART expressway will ease some of the congestion heading in and out of the city. It’s a great convenience especially if you’re headed towards the heart of the Klang Valley. It may also help during heavy downpours. However, this is yet to be seen, as the tunnel has not been fully tested, especially stage three flood mitigation. I’m really interested in how they’ll handle a real stage three situation.

Convenience and functionality aside, I would also love to see better signage. The ones available now are difficult to read. Typical to Malaysia, by the time you figure out the road signs, it’s already too late and you’ve probably missed the turning. There’s no real speed limit as there aren’t any roadsigns indicating as such. While I know the limit to be 60km/h, most motorists don’t. They treat the tunnel as a normal expressway where the limit is 110km/h. That’s an accident waiting to happen.

At the moment, motorists are taking advantage of the toll free motorway. However, when the tolls are announced and levied, the traffic flow might change. It all depends on the toll rates that will be charged. We’ll just have wait for the announcement and see what happens.

Have you tried the tunnel? What do you think?