Drivers heading to AMK Hub will lose lanes on Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 from 14 November 2026, after the Land Transport Authority (LTA) found steel ground anchors blocking a tunnel boring machine building the Cross Island Line’s Ang Mo Kio station. The temporary road layout runs until May 2028.
LTA has suspended tunnelling at the site while it investigates.
What the tunnel boring machine hit
Signs of trouble first appeared in May 2026, when foreign material came out of the tunnel boring machine (TBM). An inspection of the cutterhead found wire ropes tangled on it. Crews removed the ropes and replaced the cutters by hand, and tunnelling restarted.
Between May and July, the machine needed 100 cutterhead interventions, with 22 damaged cutters replaced. Investigators traced the blockage to ground anchors under Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3. These are steel structures drilled into the ground as temporary support for retaining walls, and they can damage cutters and put both the tunnel and the road above at risk.
LTA will strengthen and stabilise the ground along the tunnel route before work resumes, then pull out the obstructions from inside the TBM as it moves forward.
How the road changes from 14 November
- The east-bound carriageway between the AMK Hub pick-up and drop-off point and the junction with Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8 becomes a bus-only lane.
- The west-bound carriageway drops from three lanes to two.
- Entry and exit for the AMK Hub pick-up and drop-off point change, and the pedestrian crossing moves.
- Ground-level access to the overhead bridge across Avenue 3 closes. Pedestrians reach the bridge through Level 2 of AMK Hub during mall hours.
The AMK Hub basement car park, its pick-up and drop-off point and the HDB car park serving Blocks 322 and 343 stay open.
Longer queues at peak hours
LTA expects longer queues into AMK Hub at peak periods, adding 10 to 15 minutes of travel time. Variable message signs, On-Board Unit notifications, advance direction signs and traffic wardens will be deployed, and LTA has mapped alternative routes for motorists.
Bus commuters keep access to every bus stop along Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3. Barrier-free routes stay in place, and temporary covered linkways will go up along diverted paths where space allows. LTA will monitor traffic once the new layout is live and may adjust it further.
Ang Mo Kio station is one of the CRL’s first-phase stops, and it will interchange with the North-South Line at the existing Ang Mo Kio MRT station beside AMK Hub.
