Government Gives Go-Ahead for Alignment of Northern Segment of North-South Expressway (NSE)

1. The Government has given the approval for the alignment of the North-South Expressway (NSE) between Admiralty Road West and Toa Payoh Rise.

2. As announced under the Land Transport Master Plan, the Government will be building NSE, a new expressway that runs parallel to the Central Expressway to serve the north-south corridor. Given the density of the areas that NSE will pass through, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has conducted extensive and careful planning to determine an alignment that takes into account planning and engineering requirements, while minimising impact to the public. LTA has now completed the detailed studies of the alignment for the northern segment of NSE between Admiralty Road West and Toa Payoh Rise. Please refer to Annex A for the alignment of this portion of NSE.

3. Planning, engineering and alignment studies for the southern segment of the NSE are still ongoing.

Benefits

4. When completed, NSE will be Singapore’s eleventh expressway. It will serve the north-south corridor, to meet the long term growth in travel demand generated by developments in the north and north-eastern sectors of Singapore. Currently, the Central Expressway (CTE) - being the only expressway serving the north-south corridor - experiences heavy traffic generated by motorists from the northern and central part of Singapore during peak hours. Even with completion of the CTE widening project by end 2011, traffic demand along this corridor is expected to continue to grow. The NSE will not only alleviate the current load experienced on the CTE, but also help ease traffic on major arterial roads, such as Thomson Road and Marymount Road.

5. NSE will be one of the most challenging engineering undertakings to date. It will be largely dual three-lane and will consist of a combination of viaduct and road tunnels to provide a new high speed road link from residential estates such as Woodlands, Sembawang, Yishun, Ang Mo Kio, Bishan and Toa Payoh to the city centre. The NSE will also connect to existing expressways, such as the Seletar Expressway (SLE) and major arterial roads, such as Marymount Road.

Land Acquisition

6. All efforts have been made to minimise land acquisition for the construction of NSE and comprehensive redevelopment. To facilitate the construction of NSE, the Government will need to acquire 38 full lots and 33 part lots. Affected landowners will have sufficient time to vacate their premises. Upon the completion of the NSE, the acquired land at Marymount Terrace and Marymount Convent will be comprehensively redeveloped. The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) has gazetted the lands affected by the acquisition today.

7. Landowners who are directly affected will receive the acquisition notices today. For more information, members of the public can call SLA Hotline at 63239829 (for land acquisition matters) or LTA hotline at 1800-CALL-LTA (1800-2255-582) (for issues related to the Expressway).

Annexes:
Annex A: Alignment of Northern Segment of North-South Expressway (NSE)

Annex A: Alignment of Northern Segment of North-South Expressway (NSE)