MUAR: All highway operators need to establish a more effective "Smartlane" notification system to reduce traffic congestion especially during festive seasons.

Deputy Works Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said the move was to ensure users were not confused with the extra lane on the extreme left lane of the highways involved.

He said, for example in Johor, Plus Malaysia Berhad (Plus) had a number of emergency lanes that were made into "Smartlanes" including the Dato' Onn Section to Pasir Gudang and the Senai Section to Kulai in the North and South.

"During the recent Chinese New Year, the "Smartlane" was opened from 8am to 6pm, but many highway users were not aware so there was confusion between motorcyclists and other users.

"I also advise that this emergency route is not exclusive to certain vehicles, but it can be used by motorcycles, damaged vehicles, rescue operations and also as 'Smartlane' at certain times including during festivals," he told reporters after a working visit to the Pagoh Toll Plaza Operations Office of the North South Expressway, Pagoh here today.

According to Ahmad, "Smartlane" is indeed necessary especially during the festive season because 2.04 million vehicles were recorded using highways on Feb 8 and that figure was the highest for this year.

Meanwhile, he said that the Ministry of Works supported the efforts of 33 highway concession holders in the country to add EV charging stations and apply the use of solar energy in rest areas.

He said so far there were 32 EV charging stations on all highways and there would be an addition of 30 more stations in the near future.

"Efforts to upgrade various facilities in order to provide comfort to highway users are now actively being carried out as no maintenance work was carried out during the implementation of the Movement Control Order to curb Covid-19," he said. - BERNAMA

https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2024/02/1016933/more-effective-alert-smartlane-needed-highways-ahmad-maslan