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Nicoll Highway

Nicoll Highway, two stretches of highway road linked by Merdeka Bridge, located in the Central Region of Singapore. In the mid-1950s, this highway with a bridge-link was a very necessary new artery from the City to the east-side of Singapore Island, built to alleviate frequent traffic jams on the often congested Geylang and Kallang Roads during peak hours in the early 1950s. Named after former Governor of Singapore Sir John Nicoll, Nicoll Highway and its linking Merdeka Bridge were declared open by Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock, amid much ceremony on 17 August, 1956.

History
In the early 1950s increasing traffic flow on Geylang Road, from the densely-populated eastern suburbs to the City and vice versa, created much traffic congestion during peak-hour periods.  A traffic census in mid-1953 showed the peak flow of 2,500 vehicles per hour along Kallang Gas Works. The widening of existing roads and bridges along this route would be a waste of time and expense, due to the heavily built-up nature of the area.  A new alternative by-pass route was necessary. So the government's Kallang Basin Committee recommended a highway along the coast, running almost parallel to the old Geylang Road/Kallang Road link.  It was to be built through the runway grounds of old Kallang Airport with a bridge link over the Kallang Basin, and the continued stretch leading to town on Beach Road coastal reclamation. Work began in late 1954. The highway was named after Sir John Fearns Nicoll, Governor of Singapore (21 April 1952 - 2 June 1955) who had great personal interest in the project.

The whole of Nicoll Highway sits on land reclaimed in stages since the 1920s, and for this project, the Kallang Basin section was reclaimed in the mid-1950s. The eastern approaches starts at Mountbatten Road and originally ended on Stamford Bridge across Stamford Canal, where Stamford Road meets with Connaught Drive. In the 1980s, development around the Raffles City area resulted in road diversions, and in the early 1990s, the highway was lengthened.  To allow even smoother traffic flow today, Nicoll Highway has been extended with the construction and link of the Esplanade Bridge (1999) over the mouth of the Singapore River, till it meets Collyer Quay at the Fullerton Road junction. Despite the development of the East Coast Parkway with its link to Benjamin Sheares Bridge, Nicoll Highway with six traffic-lanes is still a useful dual carriageway and an alternative shortcut route.

On Tuesday 20 April 2004 at about 3.30 pm, a disaster struck when part of the temporary retaining wall of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Circle Line at Nicoll Highway collapsed. It caused a cave-in and brought the surrounding area and the highway down into it, forming 30 m deep ravine. The tragedy left four men dead. Nicoll highway was reopened to traffic on Saturday, 4 December 2004.



Author
Vernon Cornelius-Takahama & Heirwin Md Nasir



References
Merdeka Bridge and Nicoll Highway: Opening Ceremony by the Chief Minister, the Honourable Mr Lim Yew Hock on August 17, 1956 [Microfilm: NL 11802]. (1956). Singapore: Government Printing Office.
(Call no.: RCLOS 624 MER)

Singapore Street Directory (19th ed.) [Maps 360, 381]. (1998/99). Singapore: Publicity Division, Ministry of Culture.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 SIN-[DIR]) 

Nicoll Highway timeline. (2005, May 18). The Straits Times.

Subject
Commerce and Industry>>Transportation
Architecture and Landscape>>Architectural Styles
Events>>Historical Periods>>Independence and Nation-Building (1965-)
Express highways--Singapore
Transportation--History--Singapore
Singapore--History
History>>Asia>>Southeast Asia>>Singapore
Arts>>Architecture>>Architectural structure
Law and government>>Safety administration>>Land transportation

Librarian Recommendations
>> Nicoll Highway : general view
>> Merdeka Bridge
>> Sir John Fearns Nicoll


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