Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) will be calling tenders for the construction of 21.5 km North-South Corridor (NSC), to connect towns in the northern region to the city centre. It will be Singapore’s first integrated transport corridor featuring continuous bus lanes and cycling trunk routes.
The continuous bus lanes along the NSC will create opportunities to reduce bus travelling times from Woodlands, Sembawang, Yishun and Ang Mo Kio to the city by up to 30 minutes, and also make bus connections between residential towns along the NSC faster. Cyclists can also benefit from the cycling trunk route along the NSC, which will link up Park Connector Networks and the dedicated cycling path networks within HDB towns along the entire corridor to the city centre.
“The reconfigured NSC will open up new and exciting transport opportunities for Singapore, especially for residents staying along the NSC. Besides meeting the increased traffic needs arising from growing residential towns in the north, we are also reconfiguring our earlier plans to improve connectivity and commuting experience for bus commuters and cyclists. The NSC underpins our commitment towards a car-lite Singapore, by optimising our land transport infrastructure to better meet the needs of all Singaporeans,” said Chew Men Leong, LTA’s chief executive.
Preparatory works for the construction of the NSC have already been carried out along the entire 21.5 km corridor, such as setting back the boundaries of affected properties. Advance engineering studies have also been completed, and the findings show that there are potential construction and engineering challenges that would require more sophisticated construction methods to ensure that existing adjacent infrastructure are not affected by the construction of the NSC.
In the coming months, LTA will proceed to call several tenders for the construction of NSC. Major construction works will commence in 2017 after the civil contracts are awarded, and the reconfigured NSC is expected to be completed around 2026.
