Transportation problems can not be separated from from increasing human activities. Wherever people go they will need transportation. Inherent to transportation are vehicle as the equipment and road as the medium connecting one place with the others. In Bali economical growth has increase purchasing power allowing more people who can afford to own vehicle, to an extent that the transportation medium - the road network - is no longer sufficient to accommodate. Immediate result of the situation is traffic congestion especially around center of people activities.

“Widening existing roads or constructing new ones do not necessarily solve traffic congestion problem. Whilst supporting capacity of the medium to increasing volume of traffic considered the main reason, there are many other aspects causing traffic congestion a very complex problem,” said the provicial development agency of Bali Ir. I Wayan Sugiarta.

He pointed to an real example of a road strip which is heavily used by transporting vehicle leading to traffic congestion. The logical solution to the problem is widening the road. Unfortunatly wideing is not always posssible due to space constrain. Widening existing road or constructing new ones require deep considerantion especially because there are other things to prioritize as well.

Subagiarta who formerly headed public work agency of Bali provincial government said that Bali is actually a small island but traffic is increasing in an amazing rate. There was a year where transportation increased at 16% annually. Increasement of traffic density is an immediate result of significant increase on ownership of private vehicles which currently is 95% of total operating vehicles.

Immediate impact from ownership private vehicles is ineffective utilization of public transport. With traffic exceeding supporting capacity of existing roads, traffic congestion is inevitable. Time taken in trasportation becomes extended to unpredictable extent. “Improvement of public transportation to decrease traffic congestion is essential especially in South Bali. Usage if public transport has to be promoted,” said Subagiarta.

When provided alternative solution have failed to solve traffic problems, Subagiarta does not refuse the need to construct flyovers in Bali. “Analogous to cancer, at the early stages minor operation is sufficient, otherwise larger surgery or even amputation is required. Similar approach apllies to trpansportation problem in Bali. Let us try other alternatives as I explained earlier and see how they result. If they fail and constructing expensive flyovers is the only workable solution, we will do. Constructing flyovers is the last option when any other alternatives have failed to give expected result,” said Subagiarta.

Furthermore Subagiarta is looking into the negative and positive effect of constructing flyovers. The positive side effective space utilization. Flyovers only require minimum space for its poles to give immediate result of eliminating congestion, allowing traffic to flow smoothly. The minus is quite obvious, flyover construction is very expensive. Additionally there are cultural barrier dictating that flyovers do not fit Balinese culture. “Cultural issue is not a certain thing. There are pros and cons and therefore requires comprehensive assessments.”

Funding can be obtained through either government and private investment. If the project funded by the government, users are not required to pay to use it. Obviously if it funded by private investment, the investor can take payment from users just like applied by toll road operators.