Pedestrian Bridge: Part of NKRA

Part of the National Key Results Area (NKRA) is to provide proper pedestrian facilities to prevent snatch thieves and also to provide proper public transportation facilities. Proper design of the pedestrian bridge will ensure that crimes involving pedestrian will be reduced. As part of the public transportation networking, interconnected and proper pedestrian facilities are necessary to increase the usage of public transportation facilities.

Pedestrian facilities interconnecting PWTC's LRT station, Bus Station, and nearby shopping centers are under construction. I am eager enough to see the completion of the facilities which will provide convenience to pedestrians to access public transportation facilities in  Kuala Lumpur.

One of the equipments being used to construct the pedestrian facilities.


One of the pedestrian bridge pillars under  construction.

Newly Opened Elevated Walkway

The RM10 million elevated walkway linking Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) and Hotel Impiana KLCC was recently opened to public. The facility is 142-metre long and five-metre wide fully covered with air-conditioned which is disabled- friendly and equipped with elevators and escalators at both ends.

The facility is part of a series of walkways linking retail and tourism trail between Bukit Bintang and KLCC under the Greater Kuala Lumpur/Klang Valley National Key Economic Area (NKEA) initiative.

Certainly, the facility will encourage the usage of using public transportation in Kuala Lumpur.

The facility will increase accessibility and mobility of commuters within the area and sooner or later users will find that it will be more convenient and cost saving to use public transport facilities within the Kuala Lumpur area.

Hopefully, the design and standard of pedestrian elevated walkway facilities will be provided also in other major cities in Malaysia.

The newly opened elevated walkway will for sure address the shortcoming of pedestrian overhead facilities as highlighted HERE. However, the local authority should be willing to spend the amount of money to construct such facilities.

Dilemma of Using Pedestrian Bridge

It was reported in the news that 28 out of 30 pedestrian bridges in the Klang Valley are unsafe for pedestrian use, especially at night. The bridges were obscured from view by billboards and tree branches. To complicate matters, the pedestrian bridges are usually poorly lit. Obviously, pedestrian will shy away from using the bridges especially at night because it is hotspots for crimes such as snatch theft, etc. Even during an overcast day, the pedestrian bridge will be deserted due to poorly lit.

As one of the vulnerable users, pedestrians are in a dilemma of either dashing their way across the street which certainly is very dangerous (even proven fatal) and also illegal to do or to use a certified unsafe pedestrian bridge.

Thus, the design of pedestrian bridge should be re look into so that it will be more conducive to users and the relevant authorities should carry out proper periodic maintenance of the pedestrian bridge. The current sorry states of the pedestrian bridges also contribute to the unwillingness of users to use public transport because pedestrian bridges are vital interconnectivity link for public transport users.

Read HERE for some of the views of pedestrian bridges in Kuala Lumpur.

Toward Sustainable Transportation: Pedestrian Walkways

Soon, there will be a number of pedestrian walkways being completed throughout Kuala Lumpur. The initiatives is under the Urban Public Transport (UPT), National Key Results Areas (NKRA) which is a a joint effort between Prasarana and Kuala Lumpur City Hall. Hope that in the future, more pedestrian walkways should be provided in order to encourage walking and thus contributing toward sustainable transportation. The selection of the location for pedestrian walkways must be carried out systematically in order to capture the areas with high pedestrian volumes.

The covered walkway projects are as follows:

From Pasar Seni LRT station to the Central Market.

From Pasar Seni LRT station to KTM Komuter station with an elevated walkway.

From Bandaraya LRT station to the City Hall building in Jalan Raja Laut.

From Hang Tuah LRT station to the Monorail station and the Masjid Al-Bukhary.

From Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) LRT station to The Mall and Hentian Putra.

From Plaza Rakyat LRT station to Pudu Raya bus terminal and the Cahaya Suria and Maybank buildings.

From Medan Tuanku Monorail station to the Maju Junction Mall and the Sultan Ismail LRT station.

Covered at-grade and elevated walkways connecting LRT and Monorail stations to key buildings and areas in the city

For further info, read HERE.