Jalan Stapok Utama is situated in Kuching, Sarawak and approximately 2.38km in length. The road is a two-way dual carriageway with a road width of 7.4m which have two (2) Traffic Lights under the authority of Padawan Municipal Council. The Traffic Light at the Junction of Jalan Datuk Temenggong Tan Men Chong / Jln Stapok Utama was installed in 2013 while traffic light at the Junction of Jalan Stapok Utama, Kuching, Sarawak / Jalan Ensing, Kuching Sarawak was installed in 2017.
New road has been constructed by the Sarawak Government in 2015 and opened to public in 2018. This is to meet the demand for road infrastructure. This road constructed as an alternative road to Batu Kawah, Kuching from Matang, Petra Jaya in order to solve the traffic jammed issues at Jalan Satok Kuching.
Source: Google earth image (2011)
Source: Google earth image (2021)
Upon completion of the bridge and road to link Matang, Petra Jaya to Batu Kawah, the volume of vehicles had increased at Jalan Stapok Utama. In the effort to mitigate the situation, the Padawan Municipal Council had planned and approved to install the Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) smart system through their local distributor LKH Technical Services to the existing two (2) traffic light.
Photo: Traffic light with at Junction Jalan Datuk Temenggong Tan Men Chong / Jalan Stapok Utama
In 2018, the two (2) existing traffic lights were upgraded with the smart system (SCATS) and CCTV. This is to help the Council to monitor the malfunction traffic light and improve the traffic signal time length by real time adaptive approach and also to ensure correctly timing signals in sequence, platoons of vehicles move together through a green wave which means green light to allow for traffic to move.
Project Result(s) / Impact(s)
Upon completion installation of the traffic light, the traffic flow had improved and the time travel reduced by 48% during peak hours. In the beginning, the junction to Jalan Ensing may contribute to vehicles queuing up and causing traffic jammed during peak hours. After the installation, the traffic along Jalan Stapok Utama had improved and the occurrences of traffic jammed have been reduced.
Besides having improvement to the traffic movement, the system also can collect and store data for planning and analysis purpose. This data will be useful for Padawan Municipal Council to plan for road improvement in the future for sustainable cities.
 |  |
Photo: Traffic light with SCATS with CCTV at Junction Jalan Datuk Temenggong Tan Men Chong / Jalan Stapok Utama
 |  |
Photo: Traffic light with SCATS with CCTV at Junction Jalan Stapok Utama, Kuching, Sarawak / Jalan Ensing, Kuching Sarawak
The system can collect and store data for vehicles passing through the sensor located under the premix at the Traffic Light Junction. From the photos above, the volume of vehicles passing through the junction from Chung Hua No.6 Primary School is higher compare to the others. It means that more traffic come from Matang, Petra Jaya
Photo: Data collection on 6th May 2021 for Junction Jalan Stapok Utama, Kuching, Sarawak / Jalan Ensing, Kuching Sarawak
 |  |
Photo: Data collection on 6th May 2021 for the two Junction
The smart system benefits 2000 road user during the peak hours and ensuring smooth traffic flow.
The tagline for United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) is “Leaving No One Behind.” Please explain how the nominated project helps to realize and advance the commitment of UNSDGs for the future. Highlight any other SDG(s) that your project has directly or indirectly created positive impact to people and society
Cities grow day by day. The population is increasing and demand for expansion. For a city to expand, it needs good infrastructure. Road connectivity is among the basic infrastructure needed as it will improve mobility. Hence, an effective traffic management is required to ensure smooth traffic flow. By having Smart Traffic Light System which is a component of traffic management, it helps to manage the traffic to turn in or come out from the junction. The smart traffic light is having a system to minimize the vehicles from idling waiting turn to turn in or come out from the junction. To have a better planning of city expansion, data is needed and one of it is the traffic data. By analyzing the data, we can see the necessity for road improvement or an opportunity to create new road for city expansion.
