Police close access to 7 areas in Marina Bay due to large crowds gathering for NDP 2025
The police closing access to Jubilee Bridge as part of crowd control measures at 4.35pm on Aug 9.
SINGAPORE – The police have closed access to seven locations in the Marina Bay area on the evening of Aug 9 due to large crowds that have gathered there for the National Day Parade 2025.
The public should avoid the following areas, the police said in a Facebook post on Aug 9:
Merlion Waterfront
One Fullerton
Esplanade Waterfront
Jubilee Bridge
Clifford Square
Marina Bay Sands (MBS) Waterfront – Rain Oculus
MBS Waterfront – Apple Store
They should check the live Crowd@Marina Bay map at
http://go.gov.sg/crowd-at-marina-bay and the
police's Facebook page for the latest crowd information.
The map is available online and on TV screens at selected MRT stations from 5pm to 10.30pm.
From 7pm to 10.30pm on Aug 9, people can also use the OneMap app on their mobile phones for recommended walking routes to navigate the Marina Bay area.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Museum-hopping in Naoshima, Japan's art island
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Naoshima in the Seto Inland Sea welcomes its guests and residents at the Miyanoura Port with Yayoi Kusama's Red Pumpkin sculpture. NAOSHIMA, Japan – Often labelled Japan's art island , Naoshima in the Seto Inland Sea is a testament to how the local community , p rivate sector and artists can work together to reinvigorate an island. Once home to an active copper smelting industry, Naoshima experienced an economic decline in the 1980s. A collaboration that kicked off in 1985 between the local government and Japanese company Benesse Holding s tr ansformed the island into a centre for contemporary art.
Straits Times
3 hours ago
- Straits Times
Sun seeking Germans face Swiss backlash over alpine holiday congestion
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox What might appear a local traffic matter ultimately amounts to another front in the debate over mass tourism and its costs and benefits. BERN – Switzerland's tolerance for foreign drivers clogging up its highways is wearing so thin that some politicians now want to make them pay extra for the privilege. An ever-bigger deluge of mostly German and Dutch motorists heading south every summer toward the Mediterranean sun has turned tranquil Alpine valleys into congested 24-hour thoroughfares, inciting local fury and calls for action. 'Until a few years ago, the increase in holiday traffic was limited to a few weekends a year,' said Mr Simon Stadler, a centrist lawmaker from the canton of Uri. 'Now it's a whole month during which the traffic spreads across our state roads.' Mr Stadler is among advocates from the left and right of the political spectrum in Bern who want to deploy extra fees to smooth flows at the worst hot spot around the Gotthard Road Tunnel, in the area of central Switzerland that he represents. The matter is far from the top of the political agenda as Switzerland contends with US President Donald Trump's tariffs of 39 per cent , but it's an emotive issue all the same. What might appear a local traffic matter ultimately amounts to another front in the debate over mass tourism and its costs and benefits. For the Swiss, whose folk hero William Tell is said to have defied foreign tyranny in Uri, how to handle invasive drivers who treat their soaring mountains and pastoral landscape as mere obstacles to overcome is a question that could test relations with the surrounding European Union. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Business Keppel to sell M1 unit's telco business to Simba for $1.43 billion Business Nvidia, AMD to pay 15% of China chip sale revenues to US, official says Singapore Healthy lifestyle changes could save Singapore $650 million in healthcare costs by 2050: Study Singapore BTO income ceiling, age floor for singles being reviewed: Chee Hong Tat World Netanyahu says Israel's new Gaza offensive will start soon Opinion Anwar's government: Full house but plenty of empty offices Singapore Man's claim amid divorce that his mother is true owner of 3 properties cuts no ice with judge Business Singapore can deliver and thrive in a fragmented global economy: Morgan Stanley analysts More than five million cars and 900,000 trucks a year use the 16.9km long tunnel under the Gotthard Massif. An engineering feat that was the longest of its kind when completed in 1980, it has only single lanes in each direction, creating one of Europe's worst bottlenecks. Such infrastructure intersects the Alps from France to Austria, taming a range whose crossings were once associated with the military accomplishments of Hannibal and Napoleon Bonaparte. But such achievements for transport create potential pinch points. A 17km tailback at the Gotthard's north entrance on July 26 was one of many this summer. Such jams test emergency services as traffic spills onto local roads, inflicting noise and fumes on villages such as Gurtnellen, just 7km from that portal. With fewer than 500 people, it has lost a third of residents over the past three decades. 'Quality of life quickly deteriorates,' said Ms Verena Tresch-Arnold, Gurtnellen's mayor. 'You can't go outside anymore and it's harder to breathe because the smell of tires hangs in the air.' Ms Dorothea Baumann, a 61-year-old life coach living beside one of its clogged up roads, has taken to wearing earplugs when in the garden or trying to sleep at night. Austria knows such problems only too well. Its Alpine highway over the Brenner Pass sees more than three times as much traffic as the Gotthard does. Protests are routine, and a local mayor has threatened to block it if the traffic isn't handled differently. Unlike Switzerland's approach of collecting a yearly fee of 40 Swiss francs (S$63.67) from everyone using its highways, Austria is more targeted, allowing foreigners to pay national tolls for as little as one day. Each use of the Brenner adds another €12 (S$18) to the holiday bill. Traffic jams still occur, suggesting that pricing alone isn't the issue. Mr Stadler's proposal aims to smooth traffic flows. He would charge vehicle owners extra when they transit Switzerland without an overnight stay, using cameras that register licence plates at the border, and employing dynamic pricing based on time of day or season. The measure might particularly affect drivers crossing from Germany toward destinations in Italy or beyond. For example, traveling from Basel in the north to Chiasso on the southern frontier via the Gotthard tunnel is a 289km journey. Assuming no traffic and without breaks, it can take under four hours. The impact on foreigners could be problematic for Switzerland's relationship with the EU, which relies on agreements including rules for freight traffic and trade. A renewed deal was finalised in 2024, though it still needs approval from Swiss voters. 'Such measures must be proportionate and coherent, and in this respect, this proposal raises major concerns,' said Dr Astrid Epiney, a law professor at the University of Fribourg. 'The other question is whether it's a smart political move, and I doubt that it is.' Mountain traffic has been a contentious issue for decades. In 1994, Swiss voters accepted a proposal to radically shift trans-Alpine goods transport from roads onto railways. Those demands remain unfulfilled. Earlier in 2025, lawmakers rejected a road toll for the Gotthard by a single vote, despite polls showing broad voter support. That's one reason why Mr Stadler might push for a plebiscite if the new effort in Parliament fails. Another solution to ease congestion would be to increase capacity. While work has begun on a second Gotthard tunnel to renovate the old one and create hard shoulders for each road lane, such is the controversy over Alpine traffic that it would take a constitutional amendment backed by voters to allow the vehicle flow to double. It may be years before the proposal from Mr Stadler and his colleagues sees the light of day, if it ever does. But among potential targets, there's some understanding. Ms Monique van Bruggen-de Ruyter, a 61-year-old Dutch hairdresser who recently forked out the fee for a Swiss highway toll, says Switzerland can do as it likes. 'If they want to harass tourists even more, they should definitely do so,' she said. 'There's no way around it.' A regular Gotthard user, 70-year-old Klaus Meilick from near Stuttgart in southern Germany, reckons an extra charge wouldn't deter him when he takes his campervan to Italy. 'I'd still take the route,' he said. 'If you want to cross the country, you have to pay the price.' BLOOMBERG
Straits Times
12 hours ago
- Straits Times
Fire breaks out on Edinburgh landmark Arthur's Seat
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox EDINBURGH - A wildfire broke out on Arthur's Seat, the extinct volcano overlooking Scotland's capital Edinburgh, on Sunday, spreading extensively across the landmark which is popular with walkers and tourists and producing smoke visible from miles around. Arthur's Seat is the highest point of Holyrood Park, near Scotland's parliament and the end of Edinburgh's famous Royal Mile. About 250 metres above sea level, it is a popular vantage point with visitors for its views of the city. "Crews are in attendance at a fire in the open at Arthur's Seat, Holyrood Park, Edinburgh," the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said on X. Police advised motorists and pedestrians to avoid the area. August is a popular month for tourists in Edinburgh as it hosts the Edinburgh International arts festival, the Fringe comedy festival, as well as tour dates for the reunion of rock band Oasis. REUTERS
