According to The Straits Times, who spoke to Banking Sales Manager, Anthony Lim, the main choke point appeared to be the Central Boulevard exit, for both eastbound and westbound traffic. His journey from the West Coast Highway to the Marina Bay Financial Centre took him almost two hours instead of the usual 30 minutes. Today, he plans to exit earlier at Keppel Road instead.

Another commuter, Finance Professional, H.T. Lim, was caught in a jam once he exited to Marina Boulevard at about 7:00am, and added it took him 20 minutes to cover a 1km distance. He added unfamiliarity with the road changes caused the congestion.

"The MCE is a good idea to divert traffic but the people who designed it didn't give it enough thought nor consider the confusion it will cause," he told the local paper. Like Anthony, H.T. Lim plans to utilise the MCE from the East Coast Parkway (ECP) today, but will use a later exit to Shenton Way at Maxwell Road to avoid the choke point.

Similarlly the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has adviced motorists to use the Maxwell Road exit to access Anson Road or Shenton Way - instead of the Central Boulevard, which serves the Marina Bay area.

Adele Wong, a Travel coordinator was stuck in a taxi, which she hailed in Dover, on the eastbound MCE for more than an hour. The cabby wanted to exit at Rochor, but continued on the tunnel after seeing the long lines. After making through the congestion to the next exit at Fort Road, she returned to her Dover home because she felt that it was too late to head to her Beach Road office. She paid $50 for the taxi ride instead of the usual $10 and went on to add, "I'm going to take the MRT from now on."

Commercial Director, Paul Lee, was nearly an hour late for a business meeting in Havelock Road as a result of a jam at around noon yesterday. Additionally, he is considering changing the location of a dinner he is hosting at Gardens by the Bay, on Thursday, to another venue and holding meetings with clients outside the CBD area.

Cabby, F.F. Chan, complained there were not enough lane markings on the eastbound MCE indicating the lane separation for the ECP and the KPE. Although a few overhead signboards were placed to indicate which lanes to keep to, lane markings appear only when the ECP exit is close by. Vehicles headed towards the ECP had to filter to the two leftmost lanes while the other three lanes were bound for the KPE.

The 10 lane MCE connects the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) and ECP in the east, to the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) in the west. Several factors contributed to the heavy traffic, from unfamiliarity of the MCE links with other roads to the lack of and unclear signboards. Another reason for slow traffic could be attributed to motorists slowing down to ask directions to the traffic wardens, who were deployed around the Marina Bay Financial Centre.

Slow traffic was also seen along Benjamin Sheares Bridge, still utilised by some drivers yesterday, forgetting that it no longer connects the ECP to the AYE.