Going to and around Changi - whether on four wheels, two wheels or by rail - will be a breeze when a flurry of planned infrastructural projects, designed to complement the MRT Cross Island Line (CRL) and serve Changi Airport's Terminal 5 (T5), are completed.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said yesterday that it will call for tenders by year end to widen existing roads, build new roads, erect a new viaduct and lay cycling paths in an area flanking the north and south of the growing airport.
The massive undertaking, slated to start next year and be completed by 2029, will involve land acquisition affecting parts of Laguna National Golf and Country Club and three plots owned by JTC. The three plots are currently occupied by Ho Printing, Tollyjoy Baby Products and Veritas Petroleum.
The works are in two parts: Changi Northern Corridor and Changi Southern Corridor.
For the northern corridor, a viaduct along Loyang Avenue, between Tampines Expressway and Loyang Way, will be built. It will have noise barriers to reduce the impact of traffic on homes nearby, said the LTA. Loyang Avenue will have new bus lanes in both directions. Also, 3km of new cycling paths in the area along Loyang Avenue and Telok Paku Road will connect to the existing Park Connector Network.
The new road and viaduct, along with the underground CRL tunnels below them, will form a "three-level transport corridor".
The LTA said most of the works will be completed by 2026, with the rest by 2029, in tandem with four CRL stations in the vicinity.
For the southern corridor, new roads will connect T5 to Tanah Merah Coast Road (TMCR) - which will be widened and realigned - and East Coast Parkway (ECP).
The Pan-Island Expressway, ECP and Xilin Avenue will also be widened, while the Changi Flyover and Tanah Merah Flyover will be reconfigured. When completed, these will complement the northern corridor and give motorists an alternative route to the area.
The LTA said 3.5km of new cycling paths along Xilin Avenue and TMCR will be built to connect Tampines and East Coast to T5.
Works in the southern corridor are slated to be completed by end-2026.
The CRL connects Changi to Tuas. The first phase, from Changi to Sin Ming, will be completed by 2029. By then, 15,000 households in Pasir Ris and Loyang will be within a 10-minute walk of an MRT station, while those living in Ang Mo Kio can save up to 30 minutes of travelling time when they commute to the north of Changi, according to the LTA.
It said the new transport projects will also be a boon to industrial and business districts in the area and help alleviate existing congestion along key arterial roads.
T5 is slated to open around 2030 with an initial capacity of 50 million passengers - more than T1 and T2 combined. The new terminal will be part of Changi East - spanning a massive 1,080ha, and having hotels, offices and other mixed-use developments.
This, too, will involve major road projects. In fact, the total pavement length in the development is expected to be equivalent to the 43km PIE. The Straits Times reported in 2015 that projects may include two parallel roads with up to 20 lanes.
Laguna National Golf and Country Club owner Peter Kwee said the acquisition is unlikely to affect the golf course, although the club is still studying the exact area affected. "It is just about 1 per cent of the club's area," he said.
The area to be acquired, according to the Singapore Land Authority, is 16,929.4 sq m, or about 1.3 per cent of the grounds. About 1.4 per cent of the club's area was acquired for the Thomson-East Coast Line.
