Bali’s leaders have revealed more details about a new ring road that will be constructed to help tackle traffic congestion in and around the island’s busiest tourism resorts.
While Bali is in many ways a picture-perfect travel destination, it is fair to say that in order to access the dreamy postcard hotspots, one must first navigate a traffic jam or two.
On Thursday, February 27th, the Governor of Bali, Wayan Koster, spoke to reporters about a series of infrastructural development plans that would help improve the island’s transportation system.
This includes a series of improvements to public transport and several sizeable projects to redesign the road network in the island’s most congested areas.
New roads will include a connection between Sunset Road and Mahendradata, this is in addition to the highly anticipated West Gatot Subroto Road towards Canggu. Governor Koster is also set to give the go-ahead for the development of the new Ahmad Yani Underpass and the Tohpati Underpass-Akasia Intersection towards Padanggalak Intersection.
With Bali set to see its busiest year for tourism on record, welcoming over 6.5 million international tourists in 2025 as a modest target, there are resorts that are seeing a huge increase in demand from tourists, this creates a series of traffic bottle necks and perhaps none are worse than between Jimbaran and Uluwatu.
The Regent of Badung, Wayan Ali Arnawa, told reporters that the construction of the West Ring Road will help alleviate traffic congestion entering the Bukit Peninsula from the Jimbaran side. Regent Arnawa told reporters that the early stages of the project are already in motion.
He shared “This project has started, and the land acquisition process has also been carried out. I have also coordinated with the technical team from the Badung PUPR Office to prepare a budget to complete this project.”
Regent Arnawa revealed that regency officials are also reviewing the option to open access from Jalan Lingkar Barat to Puri Gading Jimbaran Housing to help funnel traffic flow in that direction too.
Bali is divided into nine regencies, and Badung Regency is home to the majority of the island’s major tourism resorts including Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, Canggu, Jimbaran, and Uluwatu.
With millions of domestic and international tourists visiting the region every year, in addition to local communities who live and work in the area, Regent Arnawa is clear that public services in Badung Regency need to be leveled up immediately.
Regent Arnawa noted that traffic and trash are two of the biggest issues facing Badung Regency and as he steps into his new role as regent, he will be focusing on these problems as top priorities.
He concluded, “We ask all regional agencies, especially technical services, to immediately take concrete steps. Our main focus is to solve the problems of traffic jams, garbage, clean water, and floods so that the community can feel the impact in a real way.”
The new ring road between Jimbaran and Uluwatu has not been given a prospective date for completion, and when construction eventually gets underway, it’s a near guarantee that in the short term at least traffic congestion will worsen in these areas.
Bali is seeking to resolve its issues with tourism traffic in novel ways using all available resources. Indonesia’s Deputy Minister for Transportation has just confirmed that a new ocean taxi service will be operational by December 2025.
The ocean shuttle service will connect tourists from I Gusti Ngurah Rai International to Kuta, Seminyak, and Uluwatu with the possibility of a service operating all the way out to Canggu in the future.
The Deputy Minister for Transportation, Dudy Purwagandhi, told reporters “We have discussed. The Minister of Transportation plans to reduce congestion from the airport to Seminyak-Uluwatu. We will try to use the sea route.”
Adding “And the Minister wants we can do it this December. So that people have other choices, such as whether to take a car or take that (water taxi) from the airport.”
For now, however, tourists arriving in Bali must remember to pack their patience and some snacks, the traffic jams aren’t going anywhere for a minute just yet.
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