Residents want junctions in front of petrol stations in Jalan Semenyih closed

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BANDAR Sunway Semenyih and Desa Mewah residents want the junctions in front of the Shell and Petronas stations in Jalan Semenyih to be closed following several fatal accidents.

Four people have died in the area so far this year and residents fear more lives will be lost if the authorities do not act soon.

The junctions are metres away from the main junction leading into residential areas.

Kampung Baru Semenyih Federal Village Safety and Development Committee (JKKKP) chairman Koh Ah See said the junctions were established solely for the convenience of certain parties.

“The turning in front of Petronas mainly caters for Road Transport Department (RTD) vehicles wanting to access the Hulu Langat RTD impound area. What the drivers fail to realise is that vehicles travel at high speed in the area as it is near the Kajang-Seremban Highway (Lekas),” he said.

Desa Mewah resident Chew Tham Swee said a divider should be built to prevent dangerous U-turns and hoped the RTD would consider the proposal for the safety of all road users.

Another resident R. Chellapan said the illegal turning in front of the Shell station metres away from the Petronas station was often used by heavy vehicles to make U-turns.

“About 100 lorries do this daily to save time and the hassle of travelling further down the road to negotiate a turn. This simply boils down to bad road planning,” he said.

Chew said the U-turn allowed lorries from a nearby quarry to make illegal turns.

“It is necessary for heavy vehicle drivers to go into Shell and make the whole turn before re-entering Jalan Semenyih and proceeding with their journey,” he said.

Resident Lye Yaw said motorists intending to make U-turns could do so at the Paling Jaya junction 500m away.

In July, Semenyih assemblyman Johan Ismail said the bottleneck at the Bandar Sunway-Semenyih junction would be resolved once the road was widened to a four-lane carriageway to accommodate increasing traffic from Kajang and Semenyih under Phase 1 of the RM20mil Jalan Kajang-Beranang upgrading project.

The bid for tenders submitted to the Public Works Department (PWD) closed on Aug 4.