Getting into the Traffic Jam

Living outside KL, there was no need for me to face this problem, but because of my son's arrival at KLIA on the eve of Chinese New Year. A daughter came back one week earlier accompanied mum at home to prepare for prayers and re-union dinner, while dad 'braved' it! We left KLIA at 7.30pm but arrived home 4 hours later at 11.30pm - in time for shower with pomelo leaves and dinner just before midnight!

Considering we took an hour longer than normal, we were very lucky indeed. On my way to KL in the morning, I noticed the expected heavy traffic on the north-bound side, with the usual jams just before service areas and where vehicles were involved in accidents or which broke down. I spotted one old car being stopped by police because of using the emergency lane - must be really unlucky to be spotted among the many who did it. I managed to glance at the old trunk road somewhere near Trolak and actually saw a lorry travelling happily like normal! That gave me an idea that if the going gets tough when coming back, using the trunk road would seem sensible, and on top of that, it is free!

My son suggested we took the Guthrie Expressway before joining the North South Expressway. It was good apart from the three separate tolls at Rm1.40 each which must have put off many potential users. It was surprisingly smooth on the NSE until just before Sungkai exit. Despite having heard an earlier radio road traffic report about traffic jams between Bidor and Sungkai, the earlier smooth travelling got the better of us thinking by now the situation is different. So it was bumper to bumper and we decided based on 'why pay more for this' and queued for more than half an hour just to exit at Sungkai. But it was worth the trouble because the traffic was smooth until Bidor town where traffic police had to direct to ensure users abide by the rules at the traffic lights where users exit at Bidor. The queue to get out of NSE could not be avoided, so for those who continued from Sungkai, it would have been worse further north at Gopeng, for instance.

Mum's suggestion by phone to take the Teluk Intan way and then Kg. Gajah was overruled by me because the federal trunk road seems more direct. These days, I tend to go against her suggestions when we have different opinions because sometimes I find them not so sensible!
Link