Connaught Drive

A stretch of prime road in Singapore will be fully pedestrianised as the Government looks to make the civic district more people-friendly.

Connaught Drive and Anderson Bridge will be closed to motorists, allowing pedestrians to walk more easily between the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM), Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, the National Gallery Singapore and The Arts House.

Connaught Drive, formerly known as New Esplanade Road, is a good candidate for pedestrianisation. Vehicular traffic is not heavy, and it’s lined by tall, beautiful trees - it would make for a scenic walkway.

A hundred years ago, Connaught Drive was already bordered by old, tall angsana trees. In the evenings, rich Europeans took first their horse carriages, and then as the Motor Age came, their motor cars, through Connaught Drive.

Bottom picture credit: Google Maps.

It’s fitting that by the end of December, the road will be returned to pedestrians.

Bus heritage in Woodlands

After five years, Woodlands Integrated Transport Hub (ITH) opened in June, replacing Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange. The ITH offers seamless transfer to the North South and Thomson-East Coast MRT lines, and Causeway Point.

It also has a heritage gallery, which is a great addition as public exhibitions of transport history are few and far between.

As SMRT Buses is the anchor operator of the ITH as part of the Woodlands Bus Package until 2023, the heritage on display is that of SMRT’s.

SMRT’s lineage goes back to 1982, when its predecessor, Trans-Island Bus Services (TIBS), was formed. The Government allowed its birth to introduce competition in a public bus industry dominated by just one company, Singapore Bus Services (SBS).

TIBS took over Woodlands Regional Bus Interchange, a predecessor of Woodlands ITH, in 1996. In 2001, SMRT launched a successful takeover of TIBS, and the latter was rebranded SMRT Buses in 2004.

The heritage gallery displays different bus models, and artefacts and memorabilia, from this 39-year history. They include service plates, ticket machines, and even a dashboard and steering wheel. I was pleased to see the Bendy Bus - my favourite bus model - get pride of place in the exhibition.

One part of the gallery also shows, on a map, the bus terminals and interchanges that used to and presently serve the Woodlands area. Marsiling Bus Terminal was built first, then Woodlands Bus Interchange at the former Old Woodlands Town Centre (now demolished), Woodlands Regional Bus Interchange, Woodlands Temporary Bus Interchange, and finally the ITH.

This succession of transport infrastructure clearly follows the gradual eastward shift of the heart of Woodlands town - from Marsiling to Woodlands ITH.

There are currently 11 ITHs in Singapore - every one of them deserves its own heritage gallery.

Track 7 Mandai Road

Track 7 Mandai Road is the only named track in Singapore with an expressway flyover - Seletar Expressway’s Upper Seletar Flyover - built over it.

This is at the junction with Mandai Road.

Upper Seletar Flyover over the track.

Walking in... the usual single-lane dual carriageway, with no pavements or curbs at the sides, just grass.

A little bridge over a canal that drains into Upper Seletar Reservoir.

Track 7 in 1991, while the Seletar Expressway was still under construction. It is on the left of the map, next to Seletar Reservoir Park.

Track 7 as of last year.

Base picture credit: Google Maps.

The map above reveals why a flyover was specially constructed over the track, instead of expunging the track altogether, as was the fate of so many tracks before it.

Track 7 is needed for access to these sites: Upper Seletar Reservoir and the park by its shores, Mandai Executive Golf Course, and the Nee Soon 500m Range.

And that’s why Track 7 has survived to the present.