Car is a mode of transport that is in vogue used by all. From teenagers going to school to old folks going to markets car is used by everyone. The high travel demand has been met in large part by private transportation in particular, private cars. Most working professionals use car transport themselves to their working place. When traffic demand is great enough that the interaction between vehicles slows the speed of the traffic stream, congestion is incurred. Nowadays traffic is becoming more and more congested as if it was not before.
Plus, increased affluence and out migration from Kuala Lumpur have both contributed to the present traffic congestion problems in the City Centre. As demand approaches the capacity of a road, extreme traffic congestion sets in. When vehicles are fully stopped for periods of time, this is colloquially known as a traffic jam or traffic snarl-up. There has been congestion and a serious deterioration of travel speed on major roads in many parts of Kuala Lumpur, especially in the City Centre as well as in the east and south, due to major traffic routes operating at or above capacity during peak hours.
Low vehicle occupancy has further aggravated the problem. Discontinuities in the old city street layout have resulted in a lack of direct routes being available for traffic entering or leaving the City Centre, specifically from the south along Jalan Syed Putra and from the east along Jalan Kuching. Access to Bukit Bintang from these directions require through traffic to pass along narrow streets within the old city precinct. Constraints in expanding existing routes for traffic entering or leaving the City Centre.
Although the road-building programme is, to all intents and purposes, complete, there remain instances where connections between major roads or major and minor roads are incomplete. The development of major roads in Kuala Lumpur has not always fully observed road classification requirements. In addition, some roads have assumed functions for which they were not originally designed such as residential roads that have become trunk roads due to ill-considered road connections.
These anomalies have presented difficulties in the design and management of the overall road network. Although traffic management measures have done much to ease traffic flows particularly in the City Centre, they cannot continue to do so indefinitely if traffic demand on the roads continues to grow. Traffic management measures alone cannot effectively increase existing road capacity levels. However, for the purpose of our report, we will narrow down our scope to Jalan Imbi, Kuala Lumpur.