KUALA LUMPUR: Many people took the opportunity to travel out of the Klang Valley during the long weekend of this Hari Raya Aidiladha.
The “balik kampung” rush out of the heavily-populated Klang Valley was in full swing from morning, ahead of the celebration.
Traffic volume on major highways from the federal capital to the north, east and south of the peninsula was reported to be heavy since early yesterday as people made their way back to their hometowns for the festive period.
A Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) spokesman said the increase in vehicles on the highways, which started at 6am, would last until midnight.
According to him, the highway concessionaires had also stationed Malaysian Volunteer Corps Department (Rela) members and auxiliary police at toll plazas identified as congestion hotspot areas.
“The Rela members are stationed to help toll users if their cards have problems while the auxiliary police will use motorcycles to monitor traffic congestion ahead,” he told Bernama.
LLM also reported slow traffic flow towards the east coast before and after the Gombak toll plaza heading to Bukit Tinggi.
On the East Coast Highway, traffic moved slowly over a 5.3km stretch from Lancang to Temerloh. Three toll plazas – Gombak, Sungai Besi and Jalan Duta – in the Klang Valley registered a high volume of vehicles.