New Canggu Shortcut Will Help Relieve Bali Tourist Traffic 

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The new Canggu shortcut is nearly ready to be opened.

Despite promises the road would be in use by the end of December 2023, the Simpang Canggu-Tibubeneng-Dalung is just 80% completed. 

The new shortcut has been designed to help redirect and filter off some of Canggu’s most intense traffic.

The Simpang Canggu-Tibubeneng-Dalung Shortcut is set to be completed by the end of the week, with construction teams now saying the 10th of January at the absolute latest. 

Putu Teddy Widnyana Putra, Head of the Road and Bridge Construction Section of the Badung Regency PUPR Service, told reporters that the final step is to lay the asphalt.

This, he says, should take just three more days, with traffic able to drive over it as soon as it has cooled and hardened.

@dedy.jrt canggu bad traffic #canggu #traffic #bali ♬ original sound – Dosen spek Bocil – Dosen spek Bocil 🇵🇸

The road, which is just 400m in length, will help filter traffic away from the highway and into Canggu itself.

This in theory will reduce the number of vehicles queueing to make the turn into the resorts of Canggu from the Tibubeneng-Canggu Highway. 

The new Simpang Canggu-Tibubeneng-Dalung shortcut is just one of many shortcuts in the Canggu area but it is the first to be formally built from scratch by the Badung Regency Government.

The famous Canggu Shortcut started out as a single track-through road for local farmers needing to get from one side of their land to the other.

Now the Canggu Shortcut is in a state of clear constant gridlock, especially during rush hour, with both motorcycles and cars using the narrow pathway initially designed to be a single track thoroughfare for farmers. 

@dedy.jrt canggu bad traffic #canggu #traffic #bali ♬ original sound – Dosen spek Bocil – Dosen spek Bocil 🇵🇸

News of the island’s ongoing traffic woes will come as no surprise to Bali lovers. As hundreds of thousands of tourists were leaving Bali after the New Year’s weekend, gridlock traffic meant that tourists had to abandon their vehicles and run to the airport.

Although the Bali Provincial Government has apologized for the situation, it is a clear reminder that seismic changes must be made to Bali’s tourism transportation infrastructure if the sector is going to thrive in the year ahead. 

There are now suggestions from officials that a flyover bypass and an underpass will be built in the Canggu area to help mitigate traffic congestion.

This would be in addition to the Gilimanuk-Medewi Toll Road which has just been paused as the contract goes up for tender once again.

@sipriyanus02 #Canggu traffic#In ♬ suara asli – sipriyanus572

Speaking to reporters in light of the New Year’s traffic saga the Chair of the Indonesian Tourism Association for Bali, Putu Winastra, urged the provincial government to take these issues super seriously. 

Winastra told reporters he wants to see real innovation when it comes to solving the island’s traffic problems.

He explained “We from the industry encourage the government to pay more attention to tourism infrastructure because after all Bali lives from tourism.”

“Don’t just talk about tourism but there is no action related to the facilities that are really needed related to tourism. For example, there is talk of an LRT (light rail train). When is it? We don’t know.”

Now Winsatra, ASITA, and other tourism stakeholders are proposing a series of flyovers and underpasses to be constructed around Canggu to help keep traffic moving.

However, they have already noted that any development of such a project would have to be completed in accordance with Balinese traditional customs and with input from the sulinggih (High Priests) to ensure the land and culture are respected.

Speaking separately the Chairman of the Bali Marginal Tourism Actors Alliance, Puspa Negara, shared his concerns about what traffic will look like in 12 months time especially if tourism targets for Bali have been set at a 40% increase in 2023.

He described the scenes over the weekend as a “slap in the face’ for Bali as a travel destination.

He added “It is time for additional underpasses to be built in certain areas at Krodit intersections, and it is also time for flyovers to be built to the airport, to Kuta, Uluwatu, Nusa Dua, Tanjung Benoa, Ungasan, Denpasar and Sanur.”