Jalan M.H. Thamrin or Jalan Thamrin is a major thoroughfare in Jakarta. The road is located at the center of Jakarta, running from Bundaran HI at the south end to the roundabout near Arjuna Wijaya Statue Jakarta at the north end. Developed in the 1950s, the road was a landmark of post-colonial Indonesia and continues to have a prominent importance in Jakarta.
Description
Thamrin Road is classified as a secondary arterial road in Jakarta. The road passes through five urban administrative villages:
Thamrin Road is closed to traffic every Sunday from 6:00 until 11:00 as part of Jakarta Car Free Days campaign.
History
Before Thamrin Road
The road that would become Thamrin Road first appear around late 1910s as a small lane running from Koningsplein West to Kebon Sirih. This lane was known as Gang Timboel. Prominent landmark near this small lane was a 19th-century Armenian Church for the Armenian community of Batavia. The church has been demolished. The former location of the Armenian Church is the green within the complex of Bank Indonesia.
The development of the suburb Kebayoran in 1949 raised the need to link the suburb with the city center of Jakarta, and thus work on a new "highway" began in the same year. The northern half of this new highway received the name Jalan M.H. Thamrin by January 1951, after Indonesian National HeroMohammad Husni Thamrin. To avoid the occupation of the newly opened lands by illegal squatters - a major problem at the time - the government sold these lands cheaply to those who committed to build on it within three to six months. Despite this, time extensions had to be granted because buyers could not arrange finance or procure building materials. Among the early projects situated in Thamrin Road were Sarinah Department Store, Bank Dagang Negara building, Ministry of Religion building, Wisma Nusantara, Hotel Indonesia and the prominent Bundaran Hotel Indonesia. Thamrin Road was largely completed by 1953.
With the arrival of the 1962 Asian Games, President Sukarno imagined the VIP visitors for the Asian Games arriving at Kemayoran Airport, drove along Thamrin Road, be greeted by the Welcome Monument and stayed at Hotel Indonesia. For the Games itself, the same VIP visitors would be driven along Sudirman Road over the Semanggi cloverleaf bridge into the newly-opened Gelora Bung Karno sports complex where the competitions would take place. For the purpose of the game, both Thamrin and Sudirman Road were widened in the early 1960s. A regulation was also established which requires buildings along Thamrin Road to be minimum five-stories-high. This was difficult to achieve due to lack of funding and commercial building expertise at that time, and the fact that there were already several two-story government buildings along Thamrin Road. In the beginning of 1970s, Thamrin Road was already a major thoroughfare of Jakarta as envisaged by Sukarno. Buildings reached a minimum height of five stories e.g. ICA building, Hotel Asoka, the Australian Embassy, and the state-owned developer Pembangunan Perumahan. Sudirman Road was still relatively devoid of development during the early 1970s compare with Thamrin Road, with the exception of the Gelora Bung Karno sports complex. Several parades were enacted along the major thoroughfare, including Jakarta's anniversary parade and Independence Day parade.
Up until the 2000s, Thamrin Road consisted of four carriageways consisting oflocal-express lanes, 3 lanes for the express lane and 2 lanes for the local lane. With the introduction of TransJakarta BRT in 2004, one of the lane of the express lanes was converted into a dedicated lane for the BRT. Eventually, Thamrin Road was made a dual carriageway by removing the separator of the local and express lanes.
Motorcycle
The Jakarta administration in December 2014 introduced a ban on motorcycles from using Jalan Thamrin and the adjoining Jalan Medan Merdeka Barat. The ban was lifted by governor Anies Baswedan in 2018.
Major buildings along Jalan MH Thamrin
Transportation
There are four stops for the TransJakarta busway along Jalan MH Thamrin, mainly serving for Route 1. They are:
