A trial has been ongoing at the former Woodlands checkpoint for the last two days to get the lorries through using the alternative complex, located not far from the current one.

The old checkpoint has been closed for the last nine years, but on Tuesday, lorries started to trundle through.

This is the latest step the ICA has taken to try and ease traffic jams leading up to the Causeway, a result of checks on every vehicle in the search for fugitive Mas Selamat Kastari.

An ICA spokesman confirmed that the old checkpoint was being used on a trial basis when lorry traffic is especially heavy.

At about 4.45pm yesterday, the gates to the old checkpoint were opened to a line of waiting trucks in Woodlands Road, and traffic wardens waved vehicles to the new route.

The thorough checks will also be in place at the old checkpoint, said the ICA spokesman.

The alternative is a godsend to drivers like Mr Baskar Muttiah, 45, who said he waited in line for about two hours on Tuesday before being diverted to the new route.

He had to go through the same stringent checks, which included X-rays, thumbprinting and a check on his cargo, he said, but clearance took just 10 minutes.

Traffic jams at Singapore's land checkpoints have been a daily affair during peak hours since Mas Selamat's Feb 27 escape.

The ICA had tried other measures to ease congestion before this, including doubling the number of open lanes at the Woodlands Checkpoint cargo complex to about 16.

The changes appear to have helped. Lorry drivers near the checkpoints yesterday told The Straits Times they had been waiting about three hours, compared to the 19 hours some drivers waited weeks ago.

Speaking yesterday morning, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng said the ICA would 'work with all the stakeholders to explore practical ways to...try to bring the congestion level back to as close as before Mas Selamat's escape.

'I understand and can fully empathise with Singaporeans and other road users for the inconvenience and congestion that they face at the checkpoints.'

TEH JOO LIN AND DIANA OTHMAN