The North-South Corridor’s viaduct between Admiralty Road West and Lentor Avenue will open in phases from 2029, two years later than planned, and its tunnel from Lentor Avenue to the East Coast Parkway will open in phases from 2031 instead of 2029. Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow set out the revised timeline, and what happens to the roads above the works in the meantime, in an oral reply in Parliament on Tuesday, 6 October.
For people who live, work or drive along the route, the more immediate dates are the ones for the construction itself.
When the noise and dust should ease
Mr Siow said the major structural works that create the most noise and dust should be completed by the end of 2027.
The Land Transport Authority will then reinstate roads, footpaths and other affected spaces from 2028. Mr Siow gave Lentor Avenue and Sembawang Road as examples: their surfaces should be fully restored by mid-2028.
Mr Siow said he has asked LTA to prioritise finishing the surface works, so that conditions on the ground start to improve from 2027. Most of the noise, dust and inconvenience residents complain about comes from those surface works, he added.
Why the corridor is two years late
The corridor runs through built-up areas, including homes and older buildings, and passes major utilities, busy roads and MRT lines. In some places the tunnel is less than a metre from the North-South Line and Circle Line, both of which are running.
LTA announced the delay on 17 September. The hold-ups it listed were foundation works at Gambas Avenue and Woodlands Avenue 8 that took longer because of utility diversions and harder rock, fractured rock and groundwater under the North-South Line at Novena, and higher rock levels and large boulders along the Thomson stretch.
Mr Siow told Parliament that LTA and its contractors added manpower and equipment, changed construction methods and re-sequenced works where they could. LTA’s engineers concluded that compressing the programme further with the known ground conditions would add significant safety risks.
Shops along the route
LTA has put up signs and banners to guide customers to affected businesses. When surface works are done, many pedestrian access routes will be restored first, and in the meantime LTA will try to add more direct walking routes to shops and food outlets, Mr Siow said.
Several businesses in HDB rental shops most affected by the works have been receiving rental rebates, and HDB will continue to extend these where there are grounds to do so, Mr Siow said.
He said the Government does not, as a general principle, compensate stakeholders for project delays, because doing so would add significant costs upfront to such projects.
The delay will likely raise the project’s cost. LTA is still assessing what claims contractors can make under their contracts, so an updated figure is not yet available. Mr Siow said it would be given later.
What the corridor is for
Mr Siow said the North-South Corridor is needed to connect the north to the city while freeing up space above ground for public transport, walking and cycling, to support towns such as Sembawang, Woodlands and Yishun. It is also expected to ease some peak-hour congestion on existing roads such as the Central Expressway.
