Expressway trivia...

Singapore's 10th expressway, the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE) opened today (Dec 29). A TODAY reader, who thought that the established convention was to set the abbreviation after the first two syllables followed by E (for expressway) was obviously thinking of preceding examples (like the AYE):

But is he or she right to suggest that MRE should have been the correct choice? Going by the MCE example, the AYE, or Ayer Rajah Expressway, should have been rendered as ARE. I doubt if the LTA would want to have ARE as an expressway initial.

Actually, I don't think the LTA has been consistent in its expressway nomenclature. Breaking the final E "rule", there is the East Coast Parkway (ECP), not the East Coast Expressway which would have been ECE.

For me, I would quibble on why the MCE is called the Marina Coastal Expressway and not the Marina Coast Expressway. After all, the ECP is the East Coast Parkway. And -- apart from the equally puzzling Marina Coastal Drive (ie, this one should have been named Marina Coast Drive) -- we do not have major roads that are called coastal roads. Examples: Changi Coast Road, East Coast Road and West Coast Road (and West Coast Highway).

Anyway, just for the sake of trivia pursuit, here are Singapore's nine expressways before today's opening of the MCE:

• Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE)
• Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE)
• Central Expressway (CTE)
• East Coast Parkway (ECP)
• Kranji Expressway (KJE)
• Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE)
• Pan-Island Expressway (PIE)
• Seletar Expressway (SLE)
• Tampines Expressway (TPE)

So, do you know what will be the country's 11th expressway? Answer tomorrow.

Meantime, here's something tongue-in-cheek that I found in this link:

http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/singapore/singapore_nutshell/869/singapore_acronyms.php

The real meaning behind all the Abbreviations:

• In Singapore, living in Highly Dangerous Buildings (HDB), most people have already got used to Paying and Paying(PAP). Not only do you pay, you Pay Until Bankrupt (PUB). If that's not enough, somebody still Purposely Wants to Dig (PWD) more from you.
• So what more can you do when you are in the Money Only Environment (MOE)? With the current Mad Accounting System (MAS), you are forced to Pay the Sum Ahead (PSA), which left some people Permanently Owe Some Banks (POSB) and live on Loan Techniques Always (LTA) system.
• When you are sick, you might be able to use your Cash Prior to Funeral (CPF) fund, if you happen to be admitted to the Money Operating Hospital (MOH) one time. If you are out of luck you may meet doctors who Never Use Heart (NUH) to treat you and you will be Sure to Give up Hope (SGH). 
• To help ease the traffic, motorist have to pay Cash On Expressway (COE). If that doesn't help, they can always Eternally Raise Prices (ERP) on the roads. If you don't own a car, you can always make a Mad Rush to Train (MRT) OR get squashed in a bus, Side By Side (SBS).
• Lastly, under all these pressure, there are not many places we can relax,not even the good old place we used to go because it has become So Expensive and Nothing To See Actually (SENTOSA)!!!