Shopping Madness in Johor Bahru

Sunday was an exceptionally wet day. It rained from morning till night and as usual in Malaysia some roads become flooded.

In the afternoon my wife and I decided to check out the latest shopping mall in Johor Bahru, the Jusco in Desa Tebrau that is about ten kilometers up the Kota Tinggi Highway from my house.

When we reached the Pasir Gudang interchange that is under construction, we found a massive traffic jam headed north. It seemed that the whole of Johor was headed towards the new shopping mall that I guess is the largest in south Malaya.

Two lanes of traffic were inching on the highway after the interchange that is about one kilometer from the Jusco main entrance. The complex is adjacent to the highway but set back about 300 meters.

Of course there were the usual queue jumpers and at one time, there were four cars trying to squeeze into the 2-lane exit.

We spent about ten minutes in the jam before the entrance but then decided that it would take at least another thirty minutes before we could enter the building proper and so decided to get out and head home.

We think it will be another three months before the “new” shopping complex fever subsides. Just wonder what kind of traffic planning we have when we approve such traffic congestion just next to a major highway.