Written Reply by Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan to Parliamentary Question on Requests for More High Sheltered Linkways Across Roads and Crossings

Prof Fatimah Lateef asked the Minister for Transport

a.     whether he can provide an update and findings on the pilot for high covered linkways across roads and crossings; and

b.     when is the expected roll out for some of the long pending requests.

Reply by Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan:

1.     Under its Walk2Ride Programme, LTA has completed 200km of covered linkways last month. These include around 900 high covered linkways across roads of up to three lanes wide. 

2.     LTA has also received requests for high covered linkways over roads with four lanes or more. As these linkways are longer and span across roads more frequently used by faster vehicles, they need to be properly reinforced to prevent a collapse of the linkway should a vehicle hit its supporting columns. The additional reinforcements take up more space and require more civil works and diversions. As a result, these linkways are more expensive to construct, costing around $550,000 each. This is six times more costly than high covered linkways over two- or three-lane roads. LTA will need to carefully assess and prioritise the construction of such linkways, taking into account inputs from the local communities.