Oil spill in Orchard area causes massive traffic jams. Guess Nationality of Driver?

[makapaaa]

[h=1]Oil spill in Orchard area causes massive traffic jams[/h]
Published on Jan 16, 2015 6:19 AM
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Traffic slowed down to almost a crawl along Scotts Road yesterday as a stretch of Paterson Road heading towards River Valley from Orchard Road was closed after the oil spill. -- ST PHOTOS: KUA CHEE SIONG

- ST PHOTOS: KUA CHEE SIONG

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http://www.straitstimes.com/sites/s...0150116/ST_20150116_DASPILL16R7J9_986839e.jpg
Traffic slowed down to almost a crawl along Scotts Road yesterday as a stretch of Paterson Road heading towards River Valley from Orchard Road was closed after the oil spill. -- ST PHOTOS: KUA CHEE SIONG



http://www.straitstimes.com/sites/straitstimes.com/files/20150116/ST_20150116_DASPILL16_986567e.jpg
The affected stretch of Paterson Road being resurfaced yesterday. The Straits Times understands that after all clean-up efforts were exhausted, the Land Transport Authority decided that the road needed to be resurfaced. -- ST PHOTOS: KUA CHEE SIONG









By Danson Cheong









A major section of a road near the Orchard Road shopping belt reopened at 4.55pm yesterday after a 13-hour closure, following an oil spill.

All five lanes on Paterson Road heading towards River Valley, between Orchard Road and Orchard Boulevard, were closed, causing a massive tailback on roads feeding into the area.

Congestion built up even on the Central Expressway and Pan-Island Expressway as motorists tried to find alternative routes. The police were alerted to the oil spill, which stretched across all five lanes, at 1.30am.

The spill next to the popular Ion Orchard shopping mall was believed to have been caused by a truck, and the driver is assisting in police investigations.


Click here for larger image

From 3.48am, the stretch of road was closed as a safety precaution, while Singapore Civil Defence Force emergency services worked to wash off the oil. Officers from a pair of fire engines spent two hours hosing off most of the oil using water jets and biosolvents. At about 5am, the National Environment Agency took over. Its crew used sawdust to sweep away the oily residue over four hours, but the road was still deemed too oily and unsafe.
The Straits Times understands that after all clean-up efforts were exhausted, the Land Transport Authority decided that the road needed to be resurfaced.

At 10am, 20 workers on heavy machines stripped the surface off the oily stretch of road before systematically resurfacing it lane by lane. Forensic investigators were seen taking samples of the road surface for analysis.
At about noon, the northbound side of Paterson Road was converted into a two-way road to allow traffic from Scotts Road to continue to Paterson Hill. This relieved the congestion somewhat but was not enough to appease many who were caught in the snarl.

Volunteer guide Shia Ai Lee was on a bus to the Peranakan Museum and caught in the jam along Scotts Road. "Traffic was a nightmare. Scotts Road was just chock-a-block," said the 61-year-old.
[email protected]
Additional reporting by Adrian Lim
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[makapaaa]

Re: Oil spill in Orchard area causes massive traffic jams. Guess Nationality of Drive

[h=1]Paterson Road oil spill: Commuters late for work and school[/h]
Published on Jan 16, 2015 6:33 AM
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Traffic slowed to a crawl along major roads leading to Paterson Road yesterday after an oil spill led to jams that stretched as far as Novena. -- ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG







By Calvin Yang And Danson Cheong









Traffic slowed to a crawl along major roads leading to Paterson Road yesterday after an oil spill led to jams that stretched as far as Novena.

The southbound side of Paterson Road was closed for 13 hours, from around 4am to 5pm yesterday, to clean up the spillage and carry out resurfacing works.
This caused delays of 15 to 40 minutes, frustrating bus commuters and motorists on their way to work.

Sales executive Cherlyn Lim, 31, who takes bus service 700 from Newton MRT station to Far East Plaza, said: "It usually takes five minutes to get to my workplace. But because of the jam, it took me an extra 25 minutes to get to work."
Traffic signs along the Pan-Island and Central expressways advised motorists to use alternative routes.

A taxi driver, who declined to be named, said messages were sent via mobile data terminals to discourage cabbies from using roads leading to the affected stretch.

Other motorists, such as Mr Lim Wei Li, 26, used alternative routes when they drove to the area.

Mr Lim, an undergraduate at the Singapore Management University, usually takes the Orchard Road exit on the Central Expressway to get to school.

"But I decided to play it safe and take a longer route - going by Bukit Timah Road past Sim Lim Square," he said, adding that despite his efforts, he was still 10 minutes late for his class at noon.
Orchard Road Business Association executive director Steven Goh said: "It is very unfortunate to have an accident like this happening on a busy stretch near Orchard Road.
"But we are glad the authorities took efforts to clean up the area so the inconvenience to shoppers was kept to a minimum."

But some complained about the inconvenience nonetheless.

Digital designer Samantha Branson, 24, usually takes a five- minute bus ride from her office in Scotts Road to Lucky Plaza, where she has lunch with her colleagues.
Yesterday, she had to take a 15-minute walk there instead.

She said: "The jam was so bad that it was faster to walk because the traffic was crawling."

When The Straits Times visited Paterson Road at about 5pm, workers were seen removing the cones placed along the affected stretch outside Ion Orchard.
Some commuters, however, felt that the delays were unavoidable.

Mr Shahrul Ariffin, 41, who takes bus service 190 from Choa Chu Kang to Orchard Road, noticed that his journey time yesterday was extended by 15 minutes.
The Alfresco Gusto bar manager said: "It took a little more time to get to work, but it wasn't that serious. It could have been worse."
[email protected]
[email protected]


- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/si...work-and-school-20150116#sthash.b0MrhRPN.dpuf

 

[voucher]

Re: Oil spill in Orchard area causes massive traffic jams. Guess Nationality of Drive

The reporter is Adrian Lim. Hope he is not the one who committed all those horrible crimes years ago.If not then why would his parents give him that name.

 

[halsey02]

Re: Oil spill in Orchard area causes massive traffic jams. Guess Nationality of Drive

Luckily this did not happen on Saturday....

 

[Agoraphobic]

Re: Oil spill in Orchard area causes massive traffic jams. Guess Nationality of Drive

This will give terrorists new ideas.

Cheers!

 

[ionzu]

Re: Oil spill in Orchard area causes massive traffic jams. Guess Nationality of Drive

so much chaos with 5m people. imagine life with 6.9m people. we are better off as a fishing village.