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As a regular user of the CTE, I drive by everyday looking at the widening works. I wonder who approved of the plans... For CTE southbound, WHY are they widening from Yio Chu Kang Rd to PIE??? Shouldn't they be widening braddel to maybe bukit timah?? I think it is a waste of money widening the CTE southbound from YCK to Braddel since the bottleneck is at Braddel. I think after they finish the widening works, the Jam will just start from Bukit Timah onwards....

Did you guys read about the new ERP rates review? It seems that overall ERP rates southbound on the CTE has risen by $1 for 8-830am? Does this mean that the CTE traffic conditions is worse after the CTE widening? Spend MILLIONS of dollars to widen CTE from YCK to PIE.... never improve bottleneck. So what happens? It jams at balestier like it did 20 years back when CTE was 3 lanes all the way. Now 4 lanes all the way, balestier becomes bottleneck. I think the overall throughput of cars actually fell as the balestier area CTE is so conjested and traffic speed is very slow. I think our LTA really cannot make it. I mean after such a big major road improvement project at CTE, I would expect traffic conditions to improve and rate to go down or at the very least stay the same overall.

The record $39-million sale of a Sentosa Cove seafront bungalow to a buyer from India, which made headlines earlier this month, may have raised many eyebrows. But it is far from being the most expensive prestige landed home on the Singapore property market - in terms of absolute price - at the moment. Sources told my paper that one of the priciest residential landed properties up for grabs is a five-bedroom good-class bungalow (GCB) in Ridout Road, off Holland Road. Its owner is asking for $68 million, or about $1,670 psf, for the property, which occupies about 40,000 sq ft of land. The large plot of land, on which two GCBs can be built, is sited on a slope and comes with its own swimming pool and tennis court. It looks set to eclipse last year's top transaction, a 69,546 sq ft bungalow at 23 Yarwood Avenue which was sold for $59.5 million, or $856 psf. The asking price for the Ridout property also rivals the psf price of most of the 57 GCBs sold last year, hovering slightly higher than that of the top-five highest transactions. There are only about 2,400 GCBs in 39 gazetted areas islandwide. GCBs, by definition, span at least 15,000 sq ft of land and have to fall within designated zones to be so classified. Also on the market now is a six-bedroom modern-contemporary-design GCB in Belmont Road - also off Holland Road - which comprises an 11,000 sq ft house and an additional 26,400 sq ft of land. It could go for about $50 million, property agent Savills said. Still, it is areas such as Nassim Road, Chatsworth Park and Cluny Hill which remain the favoured residential addresses of the ultra-rich and famous here. The record psf price for a GCB in mainland Singapore is held by 6 Chatsworth Road, which went for $2,081 psf in July last year. When it comes to such high-end luxury properties, it is the sheer exclusivity of the neighbourhood and the size of the land which the property sits on that draw the high-profile and high-net-worth buyers. Property experts specialising in such prestige homes shared that the built-up area of the house itself usually has limited influence on buyers' decision. This is because the majority of such buyers have almost infinite cash to spare and have no qualms about re-building the house from scratch. The value of the house itself is typically only about 25 to 30 per cent of that of the entire property, with the land being the key price determinant, said Mr Douglas Wong, director of luxury homes at property firm CBRE, who specialises in GCBs. Savills' director of prestige homes, Mr Samuel Eyo, said: "GCBs, as a property type, are in a class by themselves. It's something which tells immediately of the owners' status, and most buyers purchase such properties for their own use." The profile of GCB buyers tends to be highly mixed, even as most of them belong to the top 5 to 10 per cent income brackets in Singapore society. Mr Eyo added that individuals keen on buying a high-end GCB, such as the ones in Ridout Road and Belmont Road, would probably need to have a net worth of at least $500 million. >>>>So a $500M net worth individual pays for a home 10% of his net worth, whereas a HDB which cost $500k, likely the owner may downpayment $50k and loan 90% to pay back for the rest of this life. Unless he strikes it lucky, this will likely be his lot for his life. clearly the rich poor gap is widening in s'pore. anyone has any views?

Its had been a nightmare for the past 4+ years driving up and down CTE daily ....... The Central Expressway had been widen to 4 lanes and the last of the barricades had been removed for a smooth flow of traffics both ways. Some barreicades were left just above Braddell Road flyover to prevent vehicles turning into another slip road leading to 'don't know where' (still a puzzle to me) as the side road cuts into some Potong Pasir area & St Andrew's Boys Sec to PIE. But these barricades does not hinder the smooth flow of traffic. With the widening of CTE, traffic still heavy during peak hours ...

kind of curious, the CTE has been widened to 4 lanes over the PIE flyover. Has the traffic improved? This used to be the main bottle neck as the traffic coming in from braddel is a lot. wondering how much will the CTE widening project help.

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNew...0320-55481.html "MOTORISTS who have to brave the constant traffic gridlock on the Central Expressway - Singapore's most congested highway - can expect a smoother ride in about 20 months' time. The Land Transport Authority has awarded the first contract to widen the expressway to Sesdaq-listed Or Kim Peow Contractors. The local firm will widen a 1.5km stretch between Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 and 3, adding an extra lane in each direction, for $16.86 million. Work will start soon, and be completed by end-2009. By 2011, the entire CTE, stretching from Bukit Timah to Yio Chu Kang, will be widened to have four lanes in each direction. The LTA will also be improving existing connections to the expressway at Bukit Timah and Pan-Island Expressway. This widening project is the most extensive since the CTE was opened in 1991. It is part of a broad plan to improve land transport announced by Transport Minister Raymond Lim in January. The plan includes building a 21km largely underground North-South Expressway, which is to be ready by 2020." Seem good new to those who use CTE frequently But after they are widening from Bukit Timah to Yio Chu Kang Hope that: 1) YCK to Yishun will not be jamed after dat 2) AMK areas will not pop out a few ERP gates Just wonder how are they going to do it? Do it like the NS highway "eat" into the center divider and then redraw the lane markings making them smaller.