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Congestion caused by North-South Corridor works shouldn’t affect emergency vehicles

I refer to the report, “

I refer to the report, “ ” (Dec 5). The ongoing North-South Corridor works have disrupted the traffic flow along Thomson Road and caused congestion and delays. The part that worries me is that Thomson Road is connected to Irrawaddy Road, which is used to access many healthcare facilities such as Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital. On several occasions, I saw emergency vehicles trying to get to Irrawaddy Road stuck in a jam along Thomson Road. Any delay experienced by an emergency vehicle could be disastrous for patients. Also, since July 2022, the traffic light in front of Velocity @ Novena Square stays red for more than two minutes, causing traffic to back up and block access to Irrawaddy Road. When I raised this issue at a meeting with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) in August, a staff member told me that two-minute stoplights are common, and that this was being done to avoid traffic building up in Newton Road. But I think that emergency vehicles’ use of Thomson Road should be prioritised. To alleviate this situation, perhaps LTA could have built a temporary viaduct similar to the one that was built many years ago during the construction of the Downtown Line. It would have allowed easier and faster passage for emergency vehicles that use Thomson Road.