Transport planning consultant Rosli Azad Khan said the MRR2 had been clogged up since it first started due to the poor design, with traffic leading to intersections taking up pace meant for cars to go forward.
While the volume of traffic has increased over the years, he said, the number of lanes have remained the same, attributing it to bad planning by those in charge.
Rosli told FMT that SUKE, which will run from Ulu Klang to Sungai Besi, will particularly reduce overdependence on the MRR2 by Ampang folk
“It will provide a good alternative to those who travel along this eastern part of the Klang Valley. Faster journeys, but with tolls. Then again, the tolls may offset the cost of burning fuel and the time taken to sit in traffic jams along the MRR2.
“Motorists will have that choice to make. It will be entirely their own decision,” he said.
Adnan Shaari, who stays at Taman Dagang Jaya in Ampang, said SUKE was expected to halve the travel time of users from the area whenever they needed to make their way to Kuala Lumpur.
With the area seeing traffic jams for the past seven years that he has lived here, the chairman of the Taman Dagang Jaya residents association said it could take up to 45 minutes to get to Kuala Lumpur through the MRR2.
With SUKE, Adnan expected the journey time to be cut down to between 10 and 15 minutes, even during peak hours.
“This highway will be really helpful, especially for those who need to get to their offices daily or get somewhere quickly. And it gives users more options. If users aren’t in a hurry, they can use the old road,” he told FMT.
SUKE deputy general manager Zarulazam Eusofe said the new highway is expected to benefit more than 170,000 users daily, with the multi-level highway cutting down the distance travelled and addressing the heavy congestion on the MMR2.
SUKE is connected to several other major highways such as the Duta-Ulu Kelang Expressway (DUKE), Ampang-Kuala Lumpur Elevated Highway (AKLEH) and Sungai Besi Expressway (Besraya).
“Aside from smoother traffic flow, this highway helps users save on petrol and shorten the travel time,” said Zarulazam.