Study Old Klang Road jams before building flyover, says expert

A transport policy expert wants Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to slow down before it builds anything. Wan Agyl Wan Hassan, founder of MY Mobility Vision, is urging DBKL and the Public Works Department to diagnose what is actually causing congestion along Old Klang Road, before deciding on a proposed flyover or double-decker road.

His response follows a call from Seputeh MP Teresa Kok. She had urged DBKL to study worsening congestion across Bukit Jalil, Sri Petaling and Old Klang Road, one of Kuala Lumpur’s busiest corridors. Traffic there hit 200,000 vehicles a day during this year’s Chinese New Year period alone.

Wan Agyl’s warning is a familiar one to anyone who has watched a brand-new road fill up with traffic within a few years of opening. Build the wrong fix, and the relief may not last.

Diagnose Old Klang Road first, prescribe second

Wan Agyl said Kok’s call for a study was reasonable, but incomplete on its own. “Before DBKL and PWD start with the structure, they should start with the problem,” he said.

He laid out the real questions first. What is actually causing the congestion? Which parts of the corridor are failing? And which fix will still work five or ten years after it gets built?

That last question points to a well-known trap in road planning. Adding capacity does not always bring lasting relief, Wan Agyl said, since faster journeys tend to draw in more drivers. Transport planners call this induced demand.

He named several options that should be weighed before a flyover: junction improvements, better traffic signal timing, access management, parking enforcement, and stronger bus and feeder services. A flyover only belongs on that list if the evidence actually supports it.

Why Teresa Kok raised the alarm in the first place

Kok’s own case rests on a mismatch. She points to inadequate public transport, especially the missing LRT and MRT coverage around Bukit Jalil and Sri Petaling, as the real driver of the area’s congestion.

That mismatch is getting worse, not better. The road network there cannot expand much further, yet DBKL keeps approving high-density developments in the same area, according to Kok.

One project sits at the centre of her concern: a proposed 17,000-unit development called Bandar Madani in Bukit Jalil. Kok wants a feasibility study done, saying the project has already caused real anxiety among nearby residents.

She has also drawn a direct comparison. Kuala Lumpur’s mayor already committed to a six-month capacity study for Bangsar, checking whether its roads and infrastructure can handle rapid development there.

Wan Agyl’s closing point reframes the whole debate. The real question isn’t how many more cars a project can push through, he said, but how many more people it can move reliably. A road that carries 2,000 more cars and a bus network that carries several thousand more people are not the same kind of progress.

With 200,000 vehicles already squeezing through Old Klang Road on a single day, and a 17,000-unit project still awaiting real scrutiny, the test now is whether DBKL actually runs the study both Kok and Wan Agyl are asking for, before any concrete gets poured.