Yangon still facing heavy traffic
Yangon authorities have built three overpasses within a year and half to ease heavy traffic jams, but congestion remains unchanged according to daily commuters and government officials.
“It is still happening because streets and roads in Yangon are not fully usable as roads and vehicles were imported without considering road conditions,” said Police Colonel Kyaw Htwe, the head of the Myanmar Traffic Police Force.
The heavy traffic jams started five years ago when the government changed regulations on car imports. To counter the problem, Yangon’s regional government has been building overpasses, expanding the width of roads and making parking spaces by shrinking the size of sidewalks.
“Building overpasses will not solve the problem,” said Hla Aung, chairperson of Yangon’s supervisory committee for motor vehicles. “However, it can ease the traffic partially. There is more work to be done, for instance conducting accurate surveys, maintaining and upgrading traffic-light systems and parking lots and calculating the ratio of vehicles and roads.”
Traffic police said they are currently understaffed and need to hire more traffic officers to help reduce jams.
“There are at least 50 roads on which there are heavy traffic,” said Deputy Police Colonel Linn Htut. “Those places need officers to clear the traffic.
The key is to hire more traffic officers to reduce heavy jams.”
A total of 351,985 vehicles have been registered under the Yangon Region Vehicle Registration act.
