From Monday, 3 October 2005, the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) rates for the Orchard Road area will be set separately from that for the rest of the Central Business District (CBD) to better reflect traffic conditions in the area.

For a start, there will be zero charging for the Orchard Road cordon on weekday mornings, while motorists driving into the CBD will continue to pay ERP charges.separated from the rest of the Central Business District (CBD), and Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) rates for the two cordons will be priced separately to better reflect traffic conditions in the area.

Two new ERP gantries, located near Handy Road and after the YMCA, have been installed to demarcate the Orchard Road cordon. The ERP operating hours for the Orchard Road area will also be extended to 8.00pm on weekdays, and from 12.00 noon to 8.00pm on Saturdays.

Please see Annexes A and B for the location maps of the new ERP gantries,gantries and the ERP rates for Orchard Road and CBD cordons respectively.

The ERP rates will apply from 3 October 2005, after which the rates will be adjusted accordingly following the next ERP rate review in November 2005.

The Orchard Road area is mainly a shopping destination and experiences different traffic patterns from the rest of the CBD. Unlike the CBD which experiences heavy traffic in the morning from 8.00am to 10.00am when people go to work, traffic build-up for the Orchard Road area generally occurs after 12.00 noon when retail outlets commence business.

To better reflect traffic conditions and manage traffic going into the Orchard Road area, we have thus demarcated the Orchard Road area from the CBD, and priced the ERP rates for both cordons separately.

With these changes, motorists using Orchard Road would also not need to compete for road space with other motorists whose destinations are outside of Orchard Road during the peak periods, particularly during weekday evenings and Saturday afternoons. Currently, as much as 30% of the traffic going through Orchard Road during peak periods is through-traffic. To encourage these motorists to use alternative routes to get to their destinations, the ERP gantry near Handy Road will be activated during the Orchard Road peak periods, even when the other CBD gantries are not charging.

In line with the implementation of ERP, there will be some changes to the traffic schemes in the vicinity from 3 October 2005.

A right-turn facility along Orchard Road after Plaza Singapura will be provided to allow motorists to turn onto Penang Road before they reach the new ERP gantry near Handy Road, so as to remain within the Orchard Road cordon during ERP operating hours.

The slip road from Clemenceau Avenue to River Valley Road will also be closed. The slip road currently allows motorists coming from Clemenceau Avenue to remain within the CBD cordon during ERP operating hours. With the Orchard Road and CBD areas separated into two cordons, motorists travelling from Orchard Road to the CBD will have to pay different ERP rates. Therefore, motorists who wish to turn left from Clemenceau Avenue into River Valley Road will need to do so at the signalised junction and pass through the ERP gantry located after the junction.

In addition, the stretch of Fort Canning Road from Orchard Road to Canning Walk will be converted into a two-way road to allow motorists exiting from the YMCA, YWCA, Wesley Methodist Church and Park Mall to remain within the CBD cordon during ERP operating hours.

Please see Annex C for the changes to the traffic schemes.

ERP is not the only solution to traffic congestion. Where feasible, LTA has explored traffic engineering measures to relieve congestion in the Orchard Road area.

Among other measures, we have completed works to improve traffic flow in the vicinity of Orchard Link, including widening Grange Road, converting Orchard Link into a one-way street and closing a stretch of Somerset Road. The schemes, which took effect from 2 July 2005, saw smoother traffic in the area.

To improve through-traffic along Bideford Road, a dedicated storage lane was also created to separate U-turning vehicles from the mainstream traffic along Bideford Road. This freed up the two traffic lanes along Bideford Road and helped to improve traffic throughput along Bideford Road towards Cairnhill Circle and the northbound Central Expressway (CTE).

With these improvements, LTA stepped up traffic monitoring in the area to ensure that the traffic flow along Orchard Link and the adjoining Bideford Road is not unnecessarily impeded by illegal stopping or parking of vehicles along the road.

Through the use of traffic cameras, images of such errant vehicles were captured and sent to the Traffic Police for enforcement actions. In July 2005, 50 vehicles were issued summonses for stopping/parking illegally along Orchard Link and 11 for Bideford Road. In August, 97 vehicles were issued summonses for Orchard Link and 1 for Bideford Road.

In addition, we will be converting the stretch of Angullia Park, between Orchard Boulevard and the URA car park access, into a two-way street from 29 September 2005. With the conversion, motorists will enjoy an alternative access to the open-air car park at Angullia Park via Orchard Boulevard, without having to go through Orchard Road.

At the same time, to encourage motorists to use public transport for some of their trips, the bus lane scheme at Orchard Road, from Paterson Road to Dhoby Ghaut, will be extended to a full-day scheme on a pilot basis from 3 October 2005. The bus lane operating hours will be from 7.30am to 8.00pm from Mondays to Saturdays, excluding public holidays.