Many of them are like motorist Mr Alfred Lee, a Punggol resident who previously suffered through an hour of 'start-stop traffic' on the CTE from his home in Punggol to his office in Tanjong Pagar.

When the KPE started operating, the executive became a faithful user, saying it now takes him 25 minutes to get to work.

Checks with the Land Transport Authority showed that traffic volume on the CTE has fallen by five per cent since Sept 20, the day the KPE opened, with a corresponding 15 per cent increase on the new expressway in the same period.

From 42,500 vehicles which used the KPE daily in its first week of operation, 48,900 vehicles now do so every day. The LTA did not have corresponding numbers for the CTE.

It declined to comment on whether the new expressway, which offers a bypass from the Tampines Expressway to the East Coast Parkway, has accounted for the easing in traffic on the CTE.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.