If you’ve been to Tokyo, then you’ve probably experienced the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing – where a huge wave of pedestrians flood to the intersection of Shibuya Crossing while all vehicles stop for a few seconds.
Well guess what? The Bukit Bintang area has now adopted this new Shibuya-style “scramble pedestrian crossing”. It’s located at the intersection of Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Bukit Bintang, just outside of the Bukit Bintang MRT and monorail stations.
Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) explained that the implementation of pedestrian crossing walkability enabled, especially in a high traffic pedestrian area such as this. “Pedestrians will be allowed to cross in all directions with the change,” DBKL stated. “These changes make it easier for road users who pass through the road as well as reduce the risk of accidents.”
A scramble junction, or X-crossing, is a pedestrian crossing system that gives way for people on foot to cross an intersection in every direction, including diagonally, simultaneously, while all traffic lights turn red momentarily.
Prior to this, pedestrians had to wait for two different traffic lights changes. Not anymore 😉
