Chronic jam fix coming? Singapore to upgrade Woodlands Checkpoint from Q3 2025 after buying land from Malaysia
SINGAPORE, June 4 — The Woodlands Checkpoint in Singapore will undergo a major redevelopment starting in the third quarter of 2025, with the aim of cutting the current chronic congestion at the land crossing with northern neighbour Johor.
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) and the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) announced this in a joint statement today.
The project is estimated to take between 10 and 15 years to complete.
Phase one will be the checkpoint at the Old Woodlands Town Centre.
'This extension will comprise new automated clearance facilities for cargo vehicles, arriving cars, and arriving motorcycles,' ICA and SLA said in their statement.
There are also plans to extend the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) to create a direct exit route from the checkpoint to reduce traffic congestion on local roads, especially during peak hours.
According to Singapore newspaper The Straits Times, the number of daily travellers at the checkpoint rose 22 per cent in 2024 to 327,000, up from 269,000 in 2023.
On December 20, 2024, a record 376,000 travellers crossed the checkpoint during the year-end holidays.
By 2050, daily traveller numbers are expected to reach 400,000.
To make way for the redevelopment, Singapore will acquire two parcels of land totalling 0.79 hectares from Malaysia.
These land parcels are currently unused and covered with vegetation.
They are located near the centre of the redevelopment site.
Singapore wrote to Malaysia in May 2022 and November 2023 to propose the purchase and SLA officially gazetted the acquisition today.
'SLA and ICA will work closely with the Malaysian Government through the acquisition process,' the authorities said.
Future phases of the project will include building more clearance facilities and upgrading the existing checkpoint.
Once finished, the new checkpoint will cut peak period travel time from one hour to just 15 minutes.
It will also use more automation to improve efficiency and security.
There will be holding areas for vehicles within the checkpoint to ease congestion on the BKE and nearby roads.
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