THE Pasir Gudang Highway is a rather strange highway. It has many flyovers but not a single toll plaza.
While the speed limit on most highways is 110kph, the limit on this one is only 90kph.
That is merely academic, of course, for one would be lucky to be able to go at 20kph on certain stretches, especially during peak hours.
My colleague, Roslan, used to travel the highway in his commute from home in Seri Alam to the office.
However, he switched to using the Eastern Dispersal Link when it opened about two years ago.
Why did he forsake the Pasir Gudang Highway?
Many reasons he gave, but the main one was because of the traffic congestion on some stretches of the highway during rush hour.
The situation is critical near the Pasir Gudang Highway-Jalan Tebrau junction.
Traffic can be crawling there even during off-peak hours, for reasons undetectable by the naked eye.
It takes him 30 minutes to get to the office using the Johor Baru-Pasir Gudang Coastal Highway and EDL, and double that time if he were to use the Pasir Gudang Highway.
The Pasir Gudang Highway is overloaded with traffic, especially heavy vehicles. This is because the highway is linked to the Pasir Gudang and Tanjung Langsat Industrial Estates, as well as the Port of Tanjung Langsat and Johor Port.
As more and more heavy vehicles use the highway, it is not surprising that it is riddled with potholes.
They are everywhere; some are found right in the middle of the road and some at the road shoulders.
While the breadth and depth of these potholes make them easily detectable by the eye — in the day, at least — they constrict traffic flow considerably as motorists slow down to avoid them.
The potholes are less visible at night, which makes them a clear danger, especially to motorcyclists. The consequences of riding into one of them could be fatal.
When sections of the highway is blocked off for repairs, the traffic situation becomes dire indeed.
After all, it is one the busiest highways in the country.
It is obvious the highway is overloaded with traffic and stressed to breaking point. It is unable to accommodate the high volume of traffic, which grows higher by the year.
Something needs to be done to make the Pasir Gudang Highway user-friendly again.