Jakarta will change to Curitiba... maybe. hopefully. someday?

Pictures of the legs of highway under construction

Because Jakarta’s traffic is so bad, the government FINALLY took action by making an additional road over one of the busiest roads in Jakarta. When I first saw this, I was so happy because this road was the reason why i had to sit in my barely moving car for more than an hour. But this opinion completely changed after I watched a video on Curitiba, Brazil. In the video, one of the architect said widening the roads will not solve the problem of traffic. At that moment it reminded me of the picture above because all this is going to do is temporary no-traffic period (2~3 years). Jakarta adds more than 600 cars and 3,000 motorcycles each day so it is just a matter of time how fast both roads will be filled with vehicles. Curitiba solved all their problems such as floods, bad management of trash and bad traffic. I mean if Curitiba could do it, why not Jakarta? Well, Jakarta has the same problems as Curitiba used to have. I really hope Jakarta will change to a city like Curitiba.

However, the thing that makes me unhappy the most is that the construction is predicted to be done in 2 years but that is exactly when I leave Jakarta for college… I will be suffocating in worsened traffic from blocked roads for construction wasting my time during my hardest time of student life- junior and senior year. So not only will I lose patience all the time but also will miss the traffic-free roads after i leave.