Braddell Road

Braddell Road runs between Toa Payoh New Town and Bishan New Town. The road links Thomson Road, Lornie Road and Upper Thomson Road with Upper Serangoon Road, while joining the Central Expressway (CTE) and Lorong Chuan near Braddell Heights.

Origins of the name
Before the name was associated with the current road, Braddell Road was originally located north of Robertson Quay. Though the year in which the road was built is unknown, this street existed throughout the 1910s and the 1920s.¹ On 4 June 1930, the Municipal Commission “renamed” this street to Pukat Road and “reserved” the name “Braddell” for the upcoming rural road between Thomson Road and Upper Serangoon Road.² Braddell Road was named after the Braddell family, made up of eminent lawyers and colonial civil servants in British Malaya.³ Its notable members were Thomas Braddell (Attorney General of the Straits Settlements from 1867 to 1882) and Roland St. John Braddell (Municipal Commissioner in Singapore from 1914 to 1929).⁴

Constructing the road
The construction of the road was announced in a Straits Budget article on 8 May 1930 as part of a nine-mile Outer Ring Road. The Singapore Improvement Trust intended for Braddell Road to improve traffic access to the island’s rural areas and facilitate settlement there.⁵ The construction was temporarily halted because of an economic recession that began in 1930. In 1935, construction resumed when the Municipal Commission apportioned $60,000 to finance it.⁶ The most expensive portion of the Outer Ring, Braddell Road was estimated to cost the Municipal Commission over $180,000 out of the $700,000 allocated to the entire Ring Road.⁷ This high cost was likely due to the labour, machinery and materials needed for clearing the existing farmlands and kampong settlements, draining a pond in Kampong San Teng (later redeveloped as part of the Bishan urban area) and clearing its vicinity, as well as constructing the road.8 When completed, Braddell Road would be connected to the concurrently built Lornie Road stretching from Adam Road (completed in July 1938) via Thomson Road.⁹

On top of such expenditure, colonial authorities had to financially compensate the kampong’s evicted residents, who were reluctant to abandon their longtime family homes.¹⁰ Though the road was reported to be completed by May 1940, it remained closed to the public till a new channel parallel to Braddell Road was built to connect the Kallang River and MacRitchie Reservoir.¹¹

The Battle of Singapore and the Japanese Occupation
From 13 to 15 February 1942 during the Battle of Singapore, fighting took place near the junction of Braddell Road and Thomson/Lornie Road between Japanese forces and the 2nd Battalion of the Cambridgeshire Regiment, 5th Royal Norfolk Regiment and the 5th Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiments.¹² According to British commander Arthur E. Percival, Braddell Road was the frontline and one of the last outposts of British defence at the time of surrender on 15 February 1942.¹³ During the Japanese Occupation, Braddell Road fell under the jurisdiction of Police Division G and Police Division B.¹⁴

Postwar urban development
After the war, 40 acres of land near the junction of Braddell Road and Thomson Road were developed into staff lodgings for the Special Commission for Southeast Asia and the Far Eastern Broadcasting Division.¹⁵ The new housing estate, with five blocks of flats, was named Braddell Rise.¹⁶

In 1947, the colonial government’s land purchase near Braddell Rise threatened to displace 13 Chinese families of nearly a hundred members, who had been living there for up to 26 years.¹⁷ They were served eviction notices and summoned to court twice, in May 1949 and early 1950, for “unlawful occupation”.¹⁸ To obtain the legal right for the residents to remain in the Braddell Rise area, a delegate from the Singapore Branch of the Malayan Chinese Association met with the Commissioner-General for Southeast Asia, Malcolm MacDonald, who agreed to allot around five acres of land in Braddell Rise for the families to settle on.¹⁹

Around May 1949, construction for the Braddell Heights estate began, carried out by a private company Braddell Heights Estate Limited and Swan & Maclaren architects.²⁰ The estate sits on a hill overlooking the junction of Upper Serangoon Road, Braddell Road and Bartley Road.²¹ Braddell Heights was ready for settlement by 1950.²²

Floods
Situated in a low-lying area, Braddell Road was especially prone to flooding during heavy rains.²³ It was badly hit during the mid-December 1954 flash floods, when hundreds of kampung residents near Braddell Road were evacuated and left homeless within a day.²⁴ On 17 December 1954, five members of a family of seven died, after the sampan carrying them capsized when it collided with a sewerage pipeline near the Braddell bridge.²⁵ Three Singapore flood relief fund centres were established in the area,²⁶ providing hot meals, drinks, blankets, rice, clothes, tinned milk and even cash to flood victims.²⁷

Other incidents of flash floods were reported in January 1955, December 1964 and December 1969.²⁸

Road improvement works
Over the years, road improvement works were carried out near Braddell Road, such as the widening of Braddell Road bridge over the Kallang River in the 1960s,²⁹ the transformation of the traffic roundabout where Braddell Road and Thomson Road meet (then known as Braddell Circus) into a traffic light junction in 1970–71,³⁰ and the construction of a traffic interchange at the junction of Braddell Road, Bartley Road and Upper Serangoon Road.³¹ Intended to ease congestion along Upper Serangoon Road, this crossing required the construction of the Upper Serangoon flyover and the Braddell Underpass linking Braddell Road and Bartley Road.³²

A number of flyovers over Braddell Road were also built: one bypassing the Braddell Road–Bishan Road junction opened on 3 February 2004,³³ a 1.5-kilometre flyover linking Braddell Road directly with Lornie Road opened on 24 August 2008,³⁴ and a flyover across Braddell Road that links Lorong 6 Toa Payoh to Bartley Road directly via the Braddell Underpass opened on 11 June 2017.³⁵



Author
Jonas Tan



References
1. Survey Department, Singapore, Singapore. Town Subdivision No. XXI. Section B, 1953, survey map. (From National Archives of Singapore accession no. SP002021_2 and SP002021_4); “Births,” Straits Budget, 01 December 1916, 17. (From NewspaperSG)
2. “Action taken on meeting held on the 4th June 1930,” (Minutes of the Proceeding of the Municipal Commissioners, Municipal Commission, June 1930), https://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/private_records/record-details/05d239ac-f14b-11e3-a330-0050568939ad. (From National Archives of Singapore microfilm no. NA434)
3. S. Durai Raja-Singam, Malayan Street Names: What They Mean and Whom They Commemorate (Ipoh: Printed by The Mercantile Press, 1939), 86. (RRARE 959.5 RAJ; Microfilm reel no. NL 18265)
4. Walter Makepeace, Gilbert E. Brooke and Roland St. J. Braddell, eds., One Hundred Years of Singapore, vol. 2 (London: John Murray, 1921), 423–31. (Call no. RCLOS 959.57 ONE); J. W. Dossett, ed., Who’s Who in Malaya, 1918 (Singapore: Dorset & Co., 1918), 18 (Call no. RRARE 920.9595 WHO; microfilm NL6705)
5. “Nine Mile Ring Road for Singapore,” Straits Times, 2 May 1930, 14. (From NewspaperSG)
6. “Singapore’s Ring Roads,” Straits Times, 17 November 1935, 16. (From NewspaperSG); “About Singapore,” Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884-1942), 27 March 1935, 8. (From NewspaperSG)
7. “$1,000,000 For Singapore Roads,” Straits Times, 14 November 1937, 15. (From NewspaperSG)
8. “$1,000,000 For Singapore Roads,” Straits Times, 14 November 1937, 15. (From NewspaperSG)
9. “New Section of Big Road Plan Is Completed,” Straits Times, 17 July 1938, 14. (From NewspaperSG)
10. “$1,000,000 For Singapore Roads,” Straits Times, 14 November 1937, 15. (From NewspaperSG); “Singapore Ring Roads Nearly Ready,” Straits Times, 5 May 1940, 12. (From NewspaperSG)
11. “Singapore Ring Roads Nearly Ready,” Straits Times, 5 May 1940, 12. (From NewspaperSG)
12. Raffles Archives and Museum of Raffles Institution, Becoming Bishan (Singapore, The Becoming Bishan Team: 2015), 37-39. (Call no. RSING 959.57 BEC -[HIS])
13. Arthur E. Percival, The War in Malaya (London, Eyre & Spottiswoode: 1949), 293. (Call no. RCLOS 940.535951 PER -[WAR])
14. Survey Department, Singapore, Syonan. Map Showing Police Division B, 1943, survey map. (From National Archives of Singapore accession no. SP001569_2); Survey Department, Singapore, Syonan. Map Showing Police Division Part G, 1943, survey map. (From National Archives of Singapore accession no. SP001568_1)
15. “$700,000 Killearn Building Plans,” Singapore Free Press, 26 October 1946, 1. (From NewspaperSG); “More Homes for Killearn Colony,” Singapore Free Press, 21 April 1947, 5; “Work on Killearn Hostel Starts Soon Site Acquired,” Straits Times, 5 November 1946, 5. (From NewspaperSG)
16. “Killearn Staff Go to New Homes,” Singapore Free Press, 08 June 1947, 7. (From NewspaperSG); “$700,000 Killearn Building Plans,” Singapore Free Press, 26 October 1946, 1. (From NewspaperSG)
17. “Squatters Are Asked To Quit,” Singapore Standard, 14 July 1950, 2. (From NewspaperSG); “MCA Wins Fight to Stop Braddell Heights Evictions,” Straits Times, 13 March 1951, 7. (From NewspaperSG)
18. “Squatters Are Asked To Quit,” Singapore Standard, 14 July 1950, 2. (From NewspaperSG)
19. “MCA to Aid Squatters,” Straits Times, 16 April 1951, 5; “MCA Wins Fight To Stop Braddell Heights Evictions,” Straits Times, 13 March 1951, 7. (From NewspaperSG); “New Homes For 13 Families,” Straits Times, 15 March 1951, 4. (From NewspaperSG); “C.G. Intervened for 13 Squatter Families,” Singapore Free Press, 27 June 1951, 5. (From NewspaperSG)
20. “First Satellite Growing in Colony,” Straits Times, 22 May 1949, 9. (From NewspaperSG)
21. “First Satellite Growing in Colony,” Straits Times, 22 May 1949, 9. (From NewspaperSG)
22. “Braddell Heights Barbecue: Special Tribune Pictures,” Malaya Tribune, 01 July 1950, 5. (From NewspaperSG); “Page 13 Advertisements Column 1,” Straits Times, 26 February 1950, 13. (From NewspaperSG)
23. “Flood Alleviation Work Hampered by Squatters,” Straits Times, 24 December 1964, 7. (From NewspaperSG)
24. “Floods Are Worst Yet,” Straits Times, 17 December 1954, 1; “Five Die in Colony Floods,” Straits Budget, 23 December 1954, 15. (From NewspaperSG). (From NewspaperSG)
25. “Five Die in Colony Floods,” Straits Budget, 23 December 1954, 15. (From NewspaperSG)
26. “Refugees Flock to Aid Centres,” Straits Budget, 16 December 1954, 17; “Floods Are Worst Yet,” Straits Times, 17 December 1954, 1. (From NewspaperSG)
27 “Patrols Watch for Flood Looters,” 19 December 1954, 1. (From NewspaperSG)
28 “Floods From a Log Jam,” Straits Times, 13 April 1964, 10. (From NewspaperSG); “Lorong Floods: No Help Yet,” Straits Times, 5 December 1964, 14. (From NewspaperSG); “Floods Again Hit Bedok,” Singapore Free Press, 22 January 1955, 1. (From NewspaperSG); “Worst Floods in 35 Years Cause Three Deaths And Devastation Throughout Singapore,” Straits Times, 12 December 1969, 5. (From NewspaperSG)
29 S.V. Lingam, “S.V. Lingam At The Opening Of Braddell Road Bridge,” speech, Braddell Road Bridge, 25 February 1964. (From National Archives of Singapore accession no. 1997020256)
30. Ministry of Culture, “Road Improvement Works at Thomson Road/Braddell Road Junction,” press release, 01 July 1970. (From National Archives of Singapore microfilm no. NA 1251)
31. Pang Pit Kheng and Wong Hiew Peng, “New 4-tier Traffic System Coming Up,” Straits Times, 14 October 1995, 1. (From NewspaperSG)
32. Pang Pit Kheng and Wong Hiew Peng, “New 4-tier Traffic System Coming Up,” Straits Times, 14 October 1995, 1. (From NewspaperSG)
33. “Braddell Flyover Opens Today,” Straits Times, 03 February 2004, 3. (From NewspaperSG)
34. “$34m Viaduct Job Awarded,” Straits Times, 17 December 2004, 2. (From NewspaperSG); “New Viaduct Connecting Braddell, Lornie Opens,” Straits Times, 24 August 2008, 13. (From NewspaperSG)
35. “New Flyover to Ease Braddell Rd Congestion,” Straits Times, 13 April 2012, 4; “After Multiple Delays, Braddell Road Flyover to Open on June 11,” Today, 23 May 2017, 10. (From NewspaperSG)



Further resources
Loh Kah Seng, Squatters into Citizens: The 1961 Bukit Ho Swee Fire and the Making of Modern Singapore (Singapore: Asian Studies Association of Australia in association with NUS Press and NIAS Press, 2013). (Call no. RSING 307.76095957 LOH)

Victor R. Savage and Brenda Yeoh, Singapore Street Names: A Study of Toponymics, 4th ed (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2023). (Call no. RSING 915.9570014 SAV)



The information in this article is valid as of July 2024 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.