Road traffic in Chinatown disrupted by falling mid-autumn festival street decorations

SINGAPORE: Road traffic in part of the Chinatown area was disrupted for more than an hour on Thursday evening (Sep 21) after some mid-autumn festival decorations came loose and blocked some vehicles from passing through.

Photos and videos circulating on social media showed that the affected decorations were suspended across Upper Cross Street. But after coming loose, the decorations were sagging below the intended height, and were blocking some vehicles as a result.

Responding to CNA's queries on Friday, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it spotted "a fallen obstacle at Upper Cross Street" at about 7pm, and two out of five lanes were affected.

SBS Transit spokeswoman Grace Wu told CNA that its double-decker buses that were serving the area could not pass through "due to the height obstruction caused by the sagging street decorations". 

For safety reasons, passengers were transferred to single-decker buses to continue on their journey before a temporary route diversion was carried out to minimise inconvenience. 

Mrs Wu said its double-decker buses resumed normal operations less than an hour later. 

"We thank our passengers for their cooperation and patience during the incident."

According to LTA, the obstacle was cleared and all lanes "reopened" at about 8.45pm. 

The decorations were put up as part of the annual Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival, which takes place from Sep 15 to Oct 14. 

CNA has contacted Chinatown Festival Committee for more information.