Uneven Kesas Highway

(Picture source: Kesas website)

Probably for Kesas users, this is nothing…

I think I probably need to open a separate blog or blog tag to talk about the condition of highways in the country and how much the ordinary motorist is made to “bleed” to use it. After all, when it comes to highway, toll and Samy Vellu, I am always on the offensive side – that they are guilty until proven innocent especially after Samy brought the OSA issue.

I had to go to Klang last weekend for some shopping with my wife and the usual road we take is through the Kesas Highway. Ya, I could have taken the so-called “alternative” Federal Highway but once in Klang, it will take me to longer route to reach the shopping area. I have not taken this Kesas highway since the toll charges went up drastically last year and I was interested to see whether there has been an improvement on the condition of the road (now that the toll charges have gone up).

And whilst I am here, this is something I don’t get – why the speed limit is only 90 km/h in Kesas when it has more lanes, less traffic and fewer corners than the North South Highway? Why not the usual 110 km/h? This was running through my mind as I handed over my hard earned RM2.20 to the expressionless lady at the toll booth.

Then as I was driving, it struck me…

I realised that the highway was so badly constructed that the elevation of the road surface in most areas was not even at all. For anyone who uses the Kesas, look closely at the divider – it goes up and down. It is the same case on the road. You are virtually driving up a small slope, then down and sometimes the “up and down” is so sudden that you are bouncing through the air. There is no warning at all for motorist to slow down or to watch out for sudden ups and downs other than the sporadic speed limit signboard. It is no wonder that when it rains heavily, the volume of water stagnant on the road is also heavy. So, in other words, you can’t drive that fast in Kesas.

On the onset, it looks like the contractor has certainly done one heck of incompetent work on the highway – uneven road on a very straight lane. At 90 km/h, the unevenness is akin to potholes along the old Puchong road – very damaging and very dangerous. But you won’t hear this from Samy Vellu or the Work Ministry. As far as these people are concerned, the contractor probably have done 1^st class job and as such should be commended. You can see that happening in the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital fiasco – and you may lean to agree that some government agencies may seem to be so keen in championing the contractors. After all, why then all the agreements with certain contractors are tucked away in high secrecy, if not for the said government agencies is sharing the same bed with the contractors?

The shopping in Klang was fast and by the time we returned home, it started to rain cats and dogs.

Visibility was very low but what irked me was the fact that water was actually collecting on the uneven road causing certain area of the highway to be slightly flooded. And the “flooding” was not consistent – the higher level of the highway was wet but drivable whilst the lower level of the highway was completely covered with water. Good thing we slowed down and drove cautiously. I have gone through the same density of rain on the North South Highway several times but it does not have high patches of water lurking on the surface of the road. The elevation of the road is better and good drainage ensured that water is drained out from the surface. Not in Kesas though and I suspect the reason is due to the unevenness of the road. Even with good drainage, there bound to be high level water patches on the road.

And great, we are actually paying more to use these kind of roads! Thanks Samy!

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