Qing Ming Festival (清明节) – Traffic Conditions to Johor Bahru

April 2nd, 2010 admin

Qing Ming Festival (清明节) usually occurs on the 4th, 5th or 6th of April. This year, Qing Ming Festival will occur on the 5th Apr 2010.

As an opportunity for both young and old to honour their ancestors, many people will be making the effort to sweep the tomb, offer food, wine and also burn joss paper. This calling means traveling -AND- braving the bad causeway jam for those whose ancestor tombs are in Malaysia.

Many Singaporeans and PRs in their 30s – 50s have their ancestors from the Johor region which includes Muar, Cha-Ah, Kluang and Segamat. This year will be no different from the previous years – expect bad traffic jams to occur on the preceding weekend before Qing Ming and on Qing Ming festival itself. This translate to expected heavy conditions today (2nd Apr), 3rd Apr (Sat), 4th Apr (Sun) and 5th Apr (Mon).

Limsimi.com - Heavy Congestion at Woodlands Checkpoint (2010-04-02)

And because the eventual destination will not be Johor Bahru city (not a lot of tombs located here!), most people might also opt to utilise the Second Link – thus expect both checkpoints (Woodlands and Tuas) to be congested, starting at… 5am (no kidding!). Relatively, Tuas should have a lighter traffic so do check out LTA webcams for more details before planning your journey (also available on our home page).

It is notable that traffic conditions will also be exacerbated due to the Good Friday long weekend and Sepang F1 Grad Prix in KL, where hordes of Singaporeans will also make their way up North.

Nothing much can be done unless you really want to start your travel at 4am, but with Qing Ming activities a show of respect and even deemed a duty to many – bad traffic conditions and hot weather will not be a deterrent to make a trip up North.

Buddhists, 希望祖先在天有灵能保佑路程 (May ancestors bless the road journey).

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