Graveyard Road

Singapore used to be covered by cemeteries. No thanks to urban renewal and redevelopment in a land-scarce, overcrowded city-state, most of these cemeteries have disappeared, but it’s fitting that we still have roads and places named after “Cemetery” in multiple languages.

For our national language Malay, there’s Jalan Kubor, or “Grave Road”, in Kampong Glam. The cemetery there predates the arrival of the British in 1819.

Jalan Kubor Cemetery, as seen from Victoria Street.

For Hokkien, there’s Tiong Bahru in the south. “Tiong” is Hokkien for “Cemetery”; “Bahru” is Malay for “New”. Numerous Chinese cemeteries there have been exhumed.

For English, many roads in Choa Chu Kang Cemetery - the only cemetery in Singapore currently open to burials - have “Cemetery” in them. For example, Christian Cemetery Path 11, Muslim Cemetery Path 4, and Hindu Cemetery Path 1.

Muslim Cemetery Path 4. Credit: Google Maps.

And as for Tamil, there’s Jalan Mayaanam, or “Graveyard Road”, a tiny road of around 140 metres, off Upper Changi Road North.

I recently visited Jalan Mayaanam. Heading down Upper Changi Road North, blink and you’ll miss it. It’s a narrow, single-lane dual carriageway, with hardly any lane markings. It seems to serve only two functions: An alternative exit for vehicles from the Salvation Army’s Peacehaven Nursing Home and the Japanese School, and free parking space for heavy vehicles. Next to the road is Exit 1 of the Tampines Expressway, which sees a continuous flow of traffic.

Jalan Mayaanam.

Free parking for heavy vehicles.

Plenty of erosion due to frequent parking.

Mature trees next to the road.

The end of the road just 140 metres in - locked gates of the Japanese School.

Jalan Mayaanam used to be far longer, running from the old Upper Changi Road to the now-defunct Tampines Road.

A 1976 map of the area. The fragment of Jalan Mayaanam still surviving today is marked in blue. Jalan Mayaanam's "Graveyard" refers to the Hindu cemetery in the middle of the map, now expunged. Base picture credit: Survey Department.

In the 1980s, the road was sliced in half by the northward extension of Upper Changi Road East to Tampines Road; the extension was later incorporated into Tampines Expressway.

Most of the rest of the road was subsequently expunged, saved for the fragment which still exists today.

If the expressway had been planned several metres to the right, Jalan Mayaanam would not exist today.

Credit: Streetdirectory.com.

The road got its name from the Hindu cemetery which used to exist to its east.

In 1982, The Straits Times described the cemetery as thus:

All the bodies, except for a few, are buried along one edge of the cemetery. There is an open hut 7 metres by 5 metres next to the entrance where the rituals before a burial take place.

There are two large 60-year-old trees, giving shade, ostensibly. They stand like sentinels, whispering to each other when the wind blows. A coconut tree, with its top sliced off by lightning, stands like an accusing finger. The white frangipani adds an unearthly fragrance to the atmosphere - an atmosphere of timelessness, for time has stopped for those who are here. The other half of the cemetery is a wide, open space of green grass, which gently dips towards one length of the boundary. From this half, the view is enchanting: a creamy blue sky forming a canopy over the luxurious green tops of trees.

The visitors come here to worship and worry. It is here that they feel hope and fear, grief and guilt, love and loath, all at once. It is simple yet stark; serene and yet uneasy. It is the place of eternal sleep. It is The Destination.

The cemetery. Credit: Singapore Press Holdings.

Sadly, by the 1990s, the cemetery was exhumed; condominiums stand on the site today. As for Graveyard Road, it is largely forgotten, known only to the drivers of heavy vehicles who wish for free parking.

The end of Lim Chu Kang

Today, we explored the northern end of Lim Chu Kang Road, from the Lim Chu Kang Lane 4 junction to the sea.

The northernmost part of the Lim Chu Kang area, facing northwest. Blue marks the roads we explored. Base picture credit: Google Maps.

This area is as rural as Singapore can be, and compared to much of the rest of the Republic, not much has radically changed since the trunk road was completed in the early 1930s. This area is still largely used for farming, many rural tracks branching off the trunk road still exist (but are unfortunately out of bounds, within the Mindef training area), and the trunk road itself remains a single-lane dual carriageway (albeit paved, painted with road markings, and lit).

We took the opportunity to check out Bahtera Track, which runs west from Lim Chu Kang Road to near the coast. The track is one of Singapore Island’s last unpaved, unlit roads - a great example of how the island’s rural roads were once like. The track is relatively new, though - I guess it was carved out around 20 years ago, to serve the adventure camps facing the sea. Bahtera Track took its name after Jalan Bahtera (“Ark Road”), which is far older; most of the latter has survived development, but lies inside the Mindef training grounds.

The junction of Bahtera Track and Lim Chu Kang Road.

The adventure camps served by Bahtera Track.

Bahtera Track.

The Singapore Scout Association Sarimbun Camp, served by the track. It was deserted.

Near the sea, there is a large bronze memorial marking the location where the Japanese stormed the beaches on the night of 8 February 1942 - the start of seven days of battle, culminating in the surrender of Singapore on 15 February. A quiet and solemn reminder that this remote, peaceful area was once the site of a bloody struggle between forces battling for the dominance of the Pacific.

The sea itself is not accessible today for security reasons.

From the Bahtera Track junction, we walked north along Lim Chu Kang Road to the sea.

This is Lim Chu Kang’s northernmost bus stop, B01.

It serves just one looping bus service, SMRT Bus Service 975. Buses halt at a bay just short of the stop for around five minutes, which allows the driver to take a pee break. They then make a three-point turn and return where they came from, all the way back to Bukit Panjang Integrated Transport Hub.

A short distance north of Bus Stop B01 is the end of Lim Chu Kang Road. A jetty lies beyond, but it is accessible only to the Coast Guard, and I guess inhabitants of the kelongs on the Straits of Johor.

And here’s a picture of me working hard, thanks to Tiak!

I hope the rural nature of Lim Chu Kang lives on indefinitely. Urban Singapore needs it.

The last of Jurong Road

This past weekend, a significant event in the History of Movement in Singapore took place - the historic Jurong Road was closed on 27 September for future expungement.

Jurong Road, facing west. The base picture was taken from Google Maps, although the view is outdated - most of the Tengah Forest north of Jurong Road has been cleared for Tengah town, leaving a narrow strip of trees next to Jurong Road.

In the 19th century, Jurong Road was laid down to connect what is now Upper Bukit Timah Road to the Sungei Jurong (now Jurong Lake) area. Over decades, the trunk road was lengthened in stages, until it met the sea at Tuas Village in the early 1930s. In all, its length was around 10 miles. Jurong Road became a major trunk road serving the rural southwestern part of Singapore Island.

(Around 1961, the trunk road west of the junction with Boon Lay Road - Jalan Boon Lay today - was renamed Upper Jurong Road to make it easier for the postal and utility services to locate addresses.)

Urban redevelopment arrived in Jurong, starting with industrialisation in the 1960s. Bukit Batok New Town came up in the 1980s, causing much of the eastern part of Jurong Road to be expunged. A small stretch next to Upper Bukit Timah Road survives as Old Jurong Road today.

Old Jurong Road, at the junction with Upper Bukit Timah Road. Credit: Google Maps.

Also, in the 1980s, the extension of the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) to the west of the island permanently separated Jurong Road from Upper Jurong Road. More of Jurong Road was expunged, leaving a 2.5-km stretch just north of the PIE - the stretch which closed this past weekend.

Meanwhile, a small part of Upper Jurong Road has also survived, mostly next to SAFTI Military Institute.

Upper Jurong Road, next to SAFTI Military Institute. Credit: Google Maps.

It is clear that in the Jurong area, the PIE has replaced the Jurong-Upper Jurong trunk road as the primary channel for motor vehicles. What is left of Jurong Road was a time capsule of an era when trunk roads served the rural parts of Singapore - but no longer.

Throughout modern Singapore’s history, a persistent theme is that of old channels of Movement being replaced by new channels. Jurong Road will suffer the same fate - it will make way for viaducts of the upcoming Jurong Region MRT Line, and road connections between Tengah town and the PIE. As reported in the news:

Motorists and residents of the upcoming Tengah town in the west will have direct access to the Pan-Island Expressway by 2027.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will be calling a tender for new connections which will include a flyover, and which will also give residents in Jurong town another link to the PIE.

The project involves building new roads and modifying existing ones.

It includes a 0.5km dual four-lane flyover along PIE near the exit to Jurong Canal Drive, a road junction below the flyover that will connect the PIE, Jurong Canal Drive and Tengah Boulevard leading to Tengah town, and widening of the PIE between Hong Kah Flyover and Bukit Batok Flyover.

The LTA said yesterday the tender will be called by the end of this year.

To facilitate the construction of the new flyover and a surface road junction, a 1.5km stretch of the PIE will be moved northwards onto a part of Jurong Road.

With this, traffic along Jurong Road will be re-routed to the PIE before joining Bukit Batok Road...

Credit: The Straits Times.

I’ve explored Jurong Road several times over the last few years, the most recent trip being a couple of weeks ago, after I read about the road’s imminent closure. Right to the end of its existence, the road has remained a single-lane dual carriageway, mostly without pavements or curbs; to the south, a buffer of grass and trees next to the PIE; to the north, what is left of the secondary forest of Tengah after mass clearance for Tengah town. I will miss the rustic peace and quiet walking along the road, and I will miss the company of the tall, mature trees lining the road.

I hope some of these mature trees will survive the sweeping changes to the landscape.

SBS Transit Bus Service 174. After Jurong Road's demise, 174 will ply the PIE instead.

I will also miss the bus stops along the road - some of them are themselves time capsules, bearing the names of old roads and tracks which had gone out of use and / or been expunged. Examples include Track 18, Track 22, and Hong Kah Circle. With the closure of these bus stops, the last physical reminders of these lost roads will disappear too.

"aft Track 18"

A bus enthusiast did a great job of filming the road and the bus service - SBS Transit’s 174 - which plied it until the night of 27 September, including the last buses to traverse the road in both directions. The YouTube video is here.

A YouTube user then commented on the video:

Jurong Road, it has been a good ride, and thank you for your service.