The site is at Junction A, in Georgetown, Penang.

Travel demand and existing configuration of the intersection is shown below. It is proposed that a 30meter additional lane should be provided at the Jalan Burma leg to allow vehicles to wait before heading north.

For J Burma/ J Gottlieb Intersection, lets anaylse traffic figures.

Based on Afternoon figures (Fig 4.3 from Lean), J burma has 124+964+329 pcu = 1417. The queue length is >30 pcu/lane. This is the most congested leg, at LOS F.

Assuming a 120s cycle time, 4 phases, the green time for them is about 30 sec. For 2 lanes, the flow rate is 708 pcu/lane/hr. In 1 hour, there are 3600 sec, 30 periods of 120 sec. for each period of 120 sec, there is only 30 sec ggreen time. For each green time 708/30 pcu must pass or 23 pcu must rush through.

I am not sure if 23 cars can rush through in each green time. If they can, good, if not there will be queue, in this case >30.

So what happens if we add a 3rd lane, say of length 30m? 30m lane will provide space for 30/5 of about 6 pcu. if additional 6 pcu can rush through in each green time, then when we have 30 green times in an hour, that is 180 pcu in an hour. That means 180/1417 or 13% higher flowrate on this leg.

If we add another 30 m lane on J Mount Erskine, that will be another 180 pcu/hr. What is effect of additional 180+180 pcu/hr on the overall performance ? Total traffic here is 4251. So an further 360 means 360/4251 or 8.5% better performance.

Judging from the LOS of E and F, I think flowrate through a traffic light cannot be as high as 700 pcu/hr. To acheive LOS D, I think a flowrate of 350pcu/hr/lane is more likely. (note that the LOS D is on legs with that range of flowrate).. If that is the case, then total flow rate in this 9 lane intersection (total) is only 3150. If this is the case, 360/3500 is more that 11 percent increase.

So we see that it does not make a big difference but it is still an improvement.  It is also important to show to public that after spending rm3mill, there is some increase in capacity. In future, further improvement can be made when developers set back and the extra lane is lengthened. Our extra lane will make it possible for them to join to us.

Armed with information from weeks of internet research, advice from friends and guidebooks, we made a trip to Japan recently without joining a tour.  We were a group comprising our family of 5 plus 2 young friends. We obtained the Japan Rail Pass in KL which gave us 2 weeks unlimited travel on the largest railway company, Japan Railways.

The Japan railway system is run by government and private sector allowing competition to thrive.

The impressive thing about railways in Japan is that they are very frequent and almost always on time. The bullet trains travel at 300 km per hour but this feat will be lost to a passenger if he or she has to wait for an hour at the station or for connecting feeder trains. At the busy sections near Tokyo, bullet trains come every 10 to 15 minutes to serve long distance travel. Local commuter trains ply even more frequently, some every 2 minutes. This high frequency is needed as the trains serve millions of passengers on a daily basis.

To make the service even more user friendly, the commuter for any one route has a choice of taking the local train that stops all stations or the express or super express etc. To explain all this, information systems are colour coded and written in Japanese and often also in English.

If a commuter wants to be more certain of his journey, he can reserve his seat beforehand by paying a surcharge. Arriving at the platform he can stand at the line painted on the platform floor for the Car number given to him. When the train comes, the door to that car opens exactly as planned and the seat is waiting for him. Conductors check tickets politely.

Economically, the large and dense population lends itself  to and creates the need for such a costly network. The ability of the population to pay the steep prices for transport supports the system. The overall strength of the Japanese economy, being the third largest in the world also explain how such a system can be sustained.

The commuters themselves are an interesting key component of the system. The Japanese are gracious and socially conscious. They speak softly in trains and buses. Hand phone ethics are strict and constantly highlighted.   When leaving a seat they take pains to clear trays, throw rubbish into the designated and assorted rubbish bins. They are quick to help foreigners even though their level of English is limited. Railway workers bow when entering and leaving a carriage.

The post war era when Japanese commuters were pushed into trains like sardines is a thing of the past. At peak hours the trains are still very crowded even though they seem so very long. Today’s commuters enjoy efficient service which has the best engineering hardware complemented by organised management. To top it all, commuters demonstrate good manners and maturity in the use of the wonderful public transportation system.

I found it interesting enough to share with fellow engineers firstly because as a highway engineer, I have often wondered how long our hard work will continue to be used. Secondly, it is amazing how this road, an engineering project, played a major part in shaping the history of the Roman empire.

This road links Rome to the southern part of Italy and is the first major long Roman road. The engineering technology of Roman roads was quite sound, and many principles are still used today. Excavation was done to hard ground, and layers were laid until the top layer was tamped down with stones shaped appropriately.

Lime cement was a technology rediscovered by the Romans and placed between the stones. The roads were crowned for drainage like today’s roads. There are some sections of the via Appia where the stones are supposedly the original stones of those days, and there are claims that the tracks of carriages can be seen on it. Certainly, the section of the road we walked on looked very authentic.

Rest areas were set up along the road, fountains were built to provide drinking water for man and beast. Towns developed from the rest areas where travellers camped overnight.

The significance of the road to the Romans is more remarkable than the engineering of it. As this was one of the first roads built during the early days of the empire, it helped to resolve the many years of war and uneasy peace with the southern tribes. Roman troops and supplies were easily and quickly sent to war when required, thus forging control over the south.

Noblemen and rich Romans liked to live along this road. People liked to have places of worship here, and chose to be buried along this road. Thus churches, burial grounds (e.g. catacombs – underground burial sites where crypts and bones still exist) and noble houses have been preserved until today.

Both the abutting properties and the road have historical significance and have been preserved. Another notable event is that Spartacus and his defeated army of slaves were crucified along this road.

Today, the via Appia is bypassed by modern highways and serves mainly as a tourist and historical site. This road, and Roman roads in general, certainly served its role for a long period of time, shaping the social, economical and political aspects of the population for 2300 years.

The justification lies in the Utilitarian concept articulated by thinkers of long ago. It means that “an action is justified if it results in the greatest amount of benefit or reduction of pain”. In Hollywood terms, ‘the good of the many, outweighs the good of the one’. (“Star Trek”).

So if a highway needs to be expanded to 3 lanes, some houses must be demolished.  The highway gives benefit to 3000 vehicles at peak hour, serving a population of maybe a million people, for the next 20 years.   It is a good thing for many people for many years.

But it is bad for say 11 houses. In return, the people in houses demolished must be compensated.  The Land Acquisition Act makes it mandatory that the land owner must allow his house to be acquired, but he has the right to ask for the right amount of compensation in Court. In Malaysia, compensation is based on market rates after road improvements, ie future value of land as determined in Court. In Singapore compensation is based on historical land values, or any value set by PAP government.

So, in balancing the two, the action is justified as the majority benefits, and the minority suffers but is compensated to reduce the pain.

In some cases, the land may not be acquired but access may be hindered. The Law says affected land owners must have the right of access. So an alternative access must be provided.

In other cases, the road safety of the land owner is now comprised as the access becomes dangerous. In that case the road safety must be improved by providing an alternative access or mitigating measures.

It is however not right to forego the road upgrading project just because the minority’s rights are compromised. Ie, we should not allow the good of the few to overrule the good of the many.

In another angle, it is also not right to expect the minority to accept a lower standard of road safety; ie, it doesn’t mean that the minority should live with dangerous traffic conditions.

Sometimes the minority will need to make a longer route as some turning movements have to be now disallowed. This gives rise to numerous complains but is routinely carried out in the name of progress. In Penang the justification we used was that it is more economical for the car to travel further as compared to being delayed in a traffic light waiting to turn right.

Political issues also come into play.  Is it right for 5 cars illegally parked to pick up their children from school while 2000 cars wait in the resulting traffic jam? Of course not.  How about stall holders selling fruits on one lane and customers occupying another lane so that the rest of the vehicles are reduced to a crawl? The politicians must gather enough leadership and courage to move these problem makers out in an orderly manner.

Case No 1 – Kuala Krai to Kota Baru

In this project, a new 4 lane road was proposed to upgrade a kampong road. On a particular stretch,  the road passes 60 houses 4 schools, mosques. As the houses were sparse,  most houses were intact. But the road is now wider, nearer to the houses and carry more and faster traffic. Direct accesses into the highway will be fatally dangerous for the bicycle, motorcycles and pedestrians. One mitigation would be to build service roads to stop direct access into the highway. But by doing that, the houses will now have to be demolished! So the service road will have no one to serve!

Eventually we decided to move the whole highway to an alternative new route parallel to the old road, but traversing through orchards and agricultural land.  That alternative gave the most benefit and the least pain, to all concerned. The advantage we had was that the alternative route was available.

It was the Engineer’s job to recognise the issues, seek out the alternatives and sell the idea.

Case No 2 – Jalan Kelang Lama/ Old Klang Road (OKR)

OKR was widened from 4 lanes to 6 lanes plus 2 auxillary lanes.  It was necessary as the old market gave rise to many illegal parking, stopping and picking up activities. Having lived in that area, my family and I suffered from the constant traffic jams along the area.

Chinese village areas are very politically sensitive. We waited in anticipation to see the reaction of the locals to the acquisition of the frontage of the shops, stalls, parking etc.

When the works progressed in 2003, acquisition done was at very high rates. Land owners were paid millions! After half of their land was acquired, some land owners used the money to pull down the wooden buildings to build double storey modern shops. Other owners asked why we didn’t acquire their land. In hindsight, the project team could have acquired more land and built a better road!

Summary
To conclude, some initial pain will be suffered in the process of road development. The majority always rules, but the minority also needs due consideration. The engineer must balance the two sides, drawing from past experiences of other engineers. The objective is to provide the best AVAILABLE alternative that gives the most benefit to society, given the constraints of space, time, budget.

Responsibilities:
• Proficiency in both spoken and written Bahasa Malaysia/English for smooth flow of internal and external communication.
• Assist in day to day administration, operational matters and provide secretarial support to project team.
• Manage all secretarial tasks such as incoming calls, correspondences (letters/emails), filing, all project documents, invoicing, basic expenses, accounts and etc.
• Organise and arrange e-filing for paperwork, documents and computer-based information.
• Strong integrity and ability to maintain confidentiality.
• Other corporate assignments and office duties as directed.

Requirements:
• Minimum SPM Qualification, Certificate/Diploma qualification with at least 1-3 years working experience.
• Computer Literate (Microsoft Word, Excel & PowerPoint).
• Able to start work immediately or with short notice.
• Salary Range is RM1,200.00 to RM3,000.00 according to your experience/qualification.

Interested applicants, please write-in/email your Résumé indicating current and expected salary, contact telephone number together with a recent photograph (n.r.) and other relevant certificates to the address/email listed on our Contact Us page.

If interested, please post/email your Résumé/CV with any other required documents as stated in each of the above links to the address/email listed on our Contact Us page by 1st May 2011.

Requirements:
• Minimum 7 years site supervision experience in C&S with knowledge of Highway/Road works.
• Possess a Diploma/Certificate in Civil Engineering.
• Able to work independently and coordinate all works at project site.
• To be based at road project site in Georgetown, Penang.
• One year contract for road construction.
• RM2,400.00 to RM3,500.00 Package/month.

If interested, please post/email your Résumé/CV with photo to the address/email listed on our Contact Us page.

Resident Engineer (C&S)
[Georgetown]

Responsibilities:
• Supervision of road construction in Georgetown, Penang.
• The person will be responsible to ensure that Contractor complies with all civil and structural construction drawings and specifications and make necessary practical adjustments on site.
• Manage Clerk of Works to assist in supervision.
• Liaison with design office, Council, and service authorities.

Requirements:
• Degree in Civil Engineering.
• About 8 to 14 years of experience in site management/design office.
• Salary: RM5,000.00-RM7,525.00 (including allowance).
• Has eye for details and meticulous in enforcing high standards of construction work.
• Has own transport.
• Applicants should be Malaysian citizens or hold relevant residence status.
• One year contract for road construction, to be extended if needed.

If interested, please post/email your Résumé/CV stating qualifications, work experiences, expected salary, contact numbers and a recent photograph to the address/email listed on our Contact Us page.

Civil/Structural/Highway Engineers
[Selangor - Petaling Jaya]

Responsibilities:
• Civil, Highway design, Road Safety Audits, Traffic Studies using latest software.
• Managing draftspersons and ensure timely delivery of projects.
• Reporting to Managers/Senior Engineers.
• Liaison with government authorities, architect, developer and contractors.
• Report writing and presentations.

Requirements:
• Candidate must possess a strong Bachelor’s Degree with minimum 4A’s in SPM.
• Required languages: Bahasa Malaysia, English.
• Preferred language: Chinese.
• Self motivated and willingness to learn.
• Applicants should be Malaysian citizens or hold relevant residence status.
• Fresh graduates/Entry level applicants are encouraged to apply.
• 0-10 years of working experience in the related field.
• Highway Engineering, Infrastructure design, Road Safety, and Structural experience an advantage.

If interested, please post/email your Résumé/CV, Degree Transcript and SPM results to the address/email listed on our Contact Us page.