Confusion reigned supreme during the first two days after the opening of the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE), -- Singapore's newest 5km S$4.3 billion highway -- on Sunday.
The tenth expressway here was touted as Singapore's widest and deepest underground road, measuring 25 metres below sea level at its deepest.
It was described by Senior Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo as a "massive engineering feat".
However, befuddled motorists unfamiliar with the new routes compounded by an extra heavy load of vehicles due to diversions and closure of sections of the East Coast Parkway at the end of the Ayer-Rajah Expressway caused bottlenecks at exits.
Faced with jams and longer-than-usual travelling times, Singaporeans naturally took to social media to express their grievances.
The MCE is the only thing the ministers can’t apologise for being an honest mistake and say ‘let’s move on’ to, cos nobody’s moving.
— lupcheong (@lupcheong) December 30, 2013
i find it stupid that they closed off ECP straight away. why cant they close it after people are familiarized with MCE? #bodoh
— ❁.H.I.D.D.Y.❁ (@hiddyx) December 30, 2013
Ok, I m slow but seriously reading news and tweets about #MCE made my day. Hahaha.
— Jun Lin (@HowToQuitDota) December 30, 2013
Cab Driver: can i try taking the MCE? Me: try? Cab Driver: oh, because i'm not sure where to exit yet. #MCE #firstworldproblems
— khairulazmas (@khairulazmas) December 30, 2013
#MCE has now been rename as MAZE #sosingaporean
— fake_HarryLee (@Fake_HarryLee) December 30, 2013
MCE:Modern Cocked-up Expressway #WhatMCEreallyMeans @SGAG_SG
— KayiWahz (@KayiWahz) December 30, 2013
MCE: Mega Cui Expressway #whatMCEreallymeans
— Gabriel Sim (@byakureiyon) December 30, 2013
Lol RT @SGAG_SG: MCE: Most Confusing Expressway #WhatMCEreallyMeans
— Lynn (@avalanchelynn) December 30, 2013
looking at the google map, the distance on MCE makes no different from east to west....
— Peter Su (@YxPeterxY) December 30, 2013
Biting the bullet and going on the MCE again
— A.L (@leewsalex) December 30, 2013
No 3G network in the new MCE... Longer distance too... Longer time... More taxi fare! pic.twitter.com/DEo2E6EYVX
— Jaron T. (@JarWee) December 30, 2013
Do you think it's a major mistake spending billions of dollars building #MCE? I believe time will tell. #Singapore
— Adam Lee Rahmat (@9d9m) December 30, 2013
In all fairness, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) tried to mitigate the situation with a handy guide.
Unfortunately, the handy guide is probably crafted by someone familiar with road maps but not road driving, with its confusing indication of exit numbers.
Hopefully, the LTA can take note of this netizen's constructive feedback.
In fact, someone thinks that the LTA needs a more realistic tagline:
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