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NEW roads usually fill up with traffic soon after they are built, but not this one.

A multi-million-dollar flyover built four years ago to improve traffic flow along Upper Serangoon Road has not been as effective as expected.

The 1.6km flyover spanning the junction of Braddell and Bartley roads appears under-used even as traffic along the main arterial road linking the north-eastern suburbs to the city inches along bumper to bumper during peak hours.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) plans to fix this imbalance by building ramps to link the viaduct - part of a $104 million project completed in 2002 - to Braddell Road.

Motorists heading towards the Central Expressway (CTE) from Upper Serangoon Road will then be able to use the viaduct. At the moment, they have to remain on the surface road and negotiate at least two sets of traffic lights to get onto Braddell Road, so they can enter the CTE.

Another ramp will give the motorists quick access to the flyover on their way home.

As more people move into Sengkang and newer privately developed housing estates in the north-east, traffic load on Upper Serangoon Road has risen. City-bound traffic - heaviest in the morning peak hours between 8am and 9.30am - often tails back to the Tampines Road junction.

Businessman Desmond Koh, 47, who makes and sells traditional Chinese dumplings at a shophouse unit in Upper Serangoon, said: 'It's very bad. I think most people heading for town would want to use the CTE.'

But the ramps proposed by the LTA to get more traffic on the flyover will probably take some time to arrive. Plans are still at the concept stage, said an LTA spokesman, who added that the designs need to be finalised first. Approval also needs to be sought from the authorities.

After that, a tender has to be called. All in, 'it will take a year to 1 1/2 years before work can start... if we don't hit any snag', the spokesman added.

He said the works will not disrupt current traffic on the viaduct because the ramps will be built as separate structures.

The Upper Serangoon viaduct was built by Wayss & Freytag-Econ-Chew Eu Hock joint venture. It spans a stretch of Upper Serangoon Road from the Yio Chu Kang Road junction to the Upper Aljunied Road junction.

christan@sph.com.sg