KUALA LUMPUR: Traffic at three major highways reached almost 1.5 million vehicles on Deepavali eve.

       Bukit Aman Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department (JSPT) director Comm Datuk Mat Kassim Karim said the number of vehicles on the North-South Highway was 1.27 million, on the Kuala Lumpur-Karak expressway it was 150,936 vehicles, while Phase 1 of the East Coast Highway recorded 53,451 vehicles on Wednesday.

       “There was also a sharp increase in traffic volume at the main toll plazas. This was expected due to the long Deepavali weekend,” he said.

       Traffic at the Juru toll plaza saw the highest increase of 138.51% (49,081 vehicles) on Wednesday compared to 20,578 vehicles on Oct 15, a few days after the travel ban ended.“This was followed by the Duta toll plaza with a 10% increase (67,458 vehicles). Traffic at the Sungai Besi toll plaza increased 2.37%, (41,683 vehicles), while Skudai showed a 10.84% increase.”

       Comm Mat Kassim also said traffic at the Gombak, Bentong and Karak toll plazas also showed an increase of 4.06%, 7.53% and 4.01% respectively.