Accident on TPE causes massive jam in Punggol; 2 taken to hospital

Lee Min Kok and Samantha Boh
The Straits Times
7 March 2017

Commuters in the Punggol and Sengkang areas were stuck in traffic during morning rush hour on Tuesday (March 7) after an accident that reportedly caused a huge jam.

The accident, which occurred on the Tampines Expressway (TPE) in the direction of Changi Airport after the Lorong Halus exit, occurred at around 6.40am. It involved three cars and two motorcycles, said a police spokesman.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it dispatched an ambulance to the scene. Two male motorcyclists aged 42 and 60 were taken to Changi General Hospital. 

The Straits Times understands that their injuries were not serious. 

Photos posted on social media showed a massive build-up of vehicles in Punggol Central, with netizens complaining of being stuck in the jam.

Concierge officer Nurhidayu Atan, 32, who boarded a cab at Punggol Place at 7.45am to get to her workplace in Changi, told The Straits Times she was still stuck in the area at 8.40am. 

"Usually it will take me about 30 minutes with normal peak-hour traffic. But I reached work at around 9am instead of 8.15am, my usual timing. My cab fare was $32. On normal days it would have been $17 to $20," she added. 

"The cab driver tried a different route instead of going on the TPE from my house but everywhere was a bottleneck so we were moving very slowly." 

Facebook user Justin Ryuji Peng, who called it the worst traffic jam he has experienced in his life, said he was still in Punggol after an hour.

A check on the Land Transport Authority's (LTA) One Motoring website showed that an accident occurred on the TPE before the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) exit near Lorong Halus at around 6.39am.

Subsequent updates warned of heavy traffic on the TPE (towards PIE) between the SLE entrance and KPE exit.

There were no notifications on the LTA's twitter account @LTATrafficnews, its usual source of traffic news.

Police investigations into the accident are ongoing.