Malaysian Expressway System

Malaysian Expressway System
(Sistem Lebuh Raya Ekspres Malaysia)

Symbol and highway shield of the Malaysian expressways

Map of Malaysian expressway network as in 2008
System information
Maintained by respective concessionaire companies; numbers and routings assigned by Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA).[1]
Length: 1,821 km[2] (1,132 mi)
Formed: 1980[1]
Highway names
Expressways Expressway nn (E nn)
System links

The Malaysian Expressway System (Malay: Sistem Lebuh Raya Ekspres Malaysia) is a network of national controlled-access expressways in Malaysia that forms the primary backbone network of Malaysian national highways. The network begins with the North-South Expressway (NSE), and is being substantially developed. Malaysian expressways are built by private companies under the supervision of the government highway authority, Malaysian Highway Authority (abbreviated as MHA; also referred to as Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia (LLM) in Malay).[1]

Overview

The expressway network of Malaysia is considered the best controlled-access expressway network in Southeast Asia and also among the best network in Asia after China, Japan and South Korea.[3] They were 30 expressways in the country and the total length is 1,821 kilometres (1,132 mi).[2][4] and another 219.3 kilometres (136.3 mi) is under construction. The closed toll expressway system is similar to the Japanese Expressway System and Chinese Expressway System. All Malaysian toll expressways are controlled-access highway and managed in the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) system.

There are expressways in West Malaysia and East Malaysia, however, the former are better-connected. The North-South Expressway passes through all the major cities and conurbations in West Malaysia, such as Penang, Ipoh, the Klang Valley and Johor Bahru. The Pan Borneo Highway connects the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak with Brunei.

Asian Highway Network

Asian Highway route shield.
Expressway distance sign with Asian Highway route shield.

A few major expressways in Malaysia are part of the larger Asian Highway Network. The Asian Highway Network is an international project between Asian nations to develop their highway systems, which will form main routes in the network. Seven Asian Highway routes pass through Malaysia:[5][6]-

  1. AH2 Asian Highway Route 2 - along the North-South Expressway E1 and E2[7]
  2. AH18 Asian Highway Route 18 - along the Federal Route 3 [7]
  3. AH140 Asian Highway Route 140 - along the Federal Route 4 and Butterworth-Kulim Expressway E15[6]
  4. AH141 Asian Highway Route 141 - consists of New Klang Valley Expressway E1 (Bukit Lanjan-Jalan Duta), Duta-Ulu Klang Expressway E33 (Jalan Duta-Sentul Pasar and Sentul Pasar-Greenwood), Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 2 28 (Greenwood-Gombak North Interchange), Kuala Lumpur-Karak Expressway E8, East Coast Expressway E8 and Gebeng Bypass 101[6]
  5. AH142 Asian Highway Route 142 - along the MEC Highway FT222, Tun Razak Highway FT12 and Federal Route 1 (Segamat-Yong Peng South Interchange)[6]
  6. AH143 Asian Highway Route 143 - along the Second Link Expressway E3 [6]
  7. AH150 Asian Highway Route 150 - along the Pan Borneo Highway.[7]

AH2 border crossing dispute

The status of the route alignment of the Asian Highway 2 crossing the Malaysia-Singapore border is in dispute. Malaysia had commissioned the Second Link Expressway E3 as part of AH2 to maintain the primary access-controlled highway status of the route.[5] Meanwhile, Singapore had commissioned the Johor-Singapore Causeway and the Bukit Timah Expressway as part of AH2, as the Johor-Singapore Causeway is the main gateway to Singapore from Malaysia,[8] which could mean that the Skudai Highway would be included in the route alignment instead of the Second Link Expressway.

The Second Link Expressway, the Ayer Rajah Expressway, Marina Coastal Expressway and Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway were later gazetted as Asian Highway AH143.[6]

History

Interstate

South section of North-South Expressway near Pedas-Linggi, Negeri Sembilan, facing towards Kuala Lumpur (before being upgraded into six-lane carriageway from 1 July 2005 until 1 July 2007) with Titiwangsa Mountains in the top peak
The East Coast Expressway towards Titiwangsa Range, Pahang.

Before tolled expressways were introduced in the mid-1970s, most Malaysians traveled around Peninsula Malaysia on federal roads.

The major reasons for building new expressways in Malaysia are the increasing number of vehicles along federal routes, the opening of major ports and airports in Malaysia, and the increasing population in major cities and towns of Malaysia.

In 1966, the Highway Planning Unit was established under the Ministry of Works and Communications.

The first tolled highway in Malaysia was the 20 km (10 miles) Tanjung Malim-Slim River tolled road (Federal Route 1) which was opened to traffic on 16 March 1966. It saved journey time by half an hour, and cars were charged 50 sen, buses and lorries RM1 and motorcycles 20 sen. However, in 1994, with the completion of the North-South Expressway, the toll plaza was removed and it became a toll-free highway.

In 1970, the first comprehensive five-year road development programme was formulated by the Highway Planning Unit, which included expanding rural roads and plans to construct three new highways linking the east and west coasts.

On 27 March 1974, the Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Expressway was constructed. Funded by a loan by the World Bank, the 63.4 km (39.3 mile) expressway was constructed in three phases; the first phase was from Kuala Lumpur to Nilai, while the second phase was from Nilai to Seremban. The third phase was the rehabilitation of the old Federal Route 1 from Kuala Lumpur to Seremban as a toll-free alternative to motorists. The completion of the Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Expressway on June 1977 marking the first step towards the construction of the new interstate expressway known as North-South Expressway (NSE).

The Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway (Federal Route 2) was built between 1976 and 1979. Meanwhile, the 900 m Genting Sempah Tunnel was the first highway tunnel in Malaysia, constructed between 1977 and 1979. The tunnel was opened in 1979 by the then Minister of Works and Communications, Dato' Abdul Ghani Gilong.[9]

The first sections of the North-South Expressway were the toll sections of the Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Expressway from Sungai Besi to Labu toll plazas, which was opened on 16 June 1982. The next sections were Bukit Kayu Hitam-Jitra and Senai-Johor Bahru stretches opened in 1985. Then the Ipoh-Changkat Jering and Seremban-Ayer Keroh stretches, which were opened to traffic in 1986. However, on 1 October 1987 the closed-toll system came into force along the Kuala Lumpur-Ayer Keroh and Ipoh-Changkat Jering stretches. The Ayer Keroh-Pagoh stretch on the North-South Expressway was opened to traffic in 1988. All sections of the North-South Expressway were completed and officially opened on 8 September 1994 by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad.

Other interstate expressway projects in Malaysia are North-South Expressway Central Link (opened 1996), East Coast Expressway (opened 2004) and Kajang-Seremban Highway (opened 2008).

Because of a (permanent) massive traffic jam on the North-South Expressway Southern Route between Seremban and Nilai in Negeri Sembilan, a new bypass expressway named Paroi-Senawang-KLIA Expressway was proposed on 2013 to help reduce the traffic jams at the area.[10]

The Phase 2 of the East Coast Expressway (Terengganu) linking Jabur and Kuala Terengganu was completed on 31 January 2015, thus completing the alignment of the East Coast Expressway from Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Terengganu.

The new project in the west coast of Peninsula Malaysia, West Coast Expressway (WCE) has been unveiled by the government. Construction of the 233.0 km (144.8 mile) expressway linking Banting, Selangor and Taiping, Perak was to start in 2015.

Greater Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley

The Damansara Link section of Klang Valley's Sprint Expressway near Semantan.
New Pantai Expressway near Subang Jaya.

The history of the highways in the Klang Valley started after the expulsion Singapore from Malaysia on 9 August 1965, when the Malaysian government decided to make Port Swettenham (now Port Klang) Malaysia's new national port as a replacement for Singapore. As a result, the government planned to build a first highway in Klang Valley known as Federal Highway connecting Port Swettenham (now Port Klang) to Kuala Lumpur in the 1960s.

In 1967, the 45 km (28 mile) Federal Highway (Federal Route 2), the first dual-carriageway highway in Malaysia was opened to traffic.

In the early 1990s the federal government decided to build more expressways and highways in Klang Valley because of the increasing size and population of the Klang Valley conurbation, development of new townships and industrial estates, and the massive traffic jams along Federal Highway.

The New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE), which was opened in 1990, is the second link to Kuala Lumpur from Klang after Federal Highway. In 1997, North-South Expressway Central Link (NSECL), which is the main link to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) was opened to traffic.

Other expressway projects in Klang Valley are Shah Alam Expressway (SAE/KESAS) (opened 1997), Damansara-Puchong Expressway (LDP) (opened 1999), Sprint Expressway (opened 2001), New Pantai Expressway (NPE) (opened 2004), SMART Tunnel (opened 2007), KL-KLIA Dedicated Expressway or Kuala Lumpur-Putrajaya Expressway (KLPE) (now Maju Expressway (MEX)) (opened 2007) and Duta-Ulu Klang Expressway (DUKE) (opened 2009).

In addition to Kuala Lumpur Inner Ring Road (KLIRR) as the inner ring road in Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 1 (KLMRR1), Kuala Lumpur Western/Northern Dispersal Link Scheme (Sprint Expressway and DUKE) and Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 2 (KLMRR2) also act as middle ring roads of the city. Kuala Lumpur-Kuala Selangor Expressway (KLS) (formerly Assam Jawa-Templer Park Highway (LATAR)), Kajang Dispersal Link Expressway (SILK), South Klang Valley Expressway (SKVE) and the planning Kuala Lumpur Outer Ring Road (KLORR) may form the outer ring roads of Kuala Lumpur.

Following the formation of the Greater Kuala Lumpur in the early 2010s, many expressways and highways will be built in the Greater Kuala Lumpur under the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP). These are the Besraya Extension Expressway (now part of the Besraya Expressway) (opened 2012), Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Expressway (DASH), Sungai Besi-Ulu Klang Elevated Expressway (SUKE), East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE) which will be part of the KLORR system, Sri Damansara Link and Tun Razak Link of the DUKE, Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (KIDEX Skyway) and Serdang-Kinrara-Putrajaya Expressway (SKIP). However, the proposed Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (KIDEX Skyway) project was officially scrapped by the Selangor State Government due to the several protests by the local Petaling Jaya citizens.

Penang

The Penang Bridge was the first expressway in Penang.

The history of highways in Penang began in the 1970s when the federal government decided to build the Penang Bridge, connecting Seberang Perai and Penang Island. The construction of Penang Bridge began in 1982 and was completed in 1985. This bridge was officially opened on 14 September 1985 by then Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad.

The main reasons for constructing new expressways in Penang are the increasing population of George Town and Butterworth since the Penang Bridge was opened. Many townships have been built in Penang and new industrial estates have sprung up in areas such as Bayan Lepas and Perai.

Other expressway projects in Penang are the Butterworth-Kulim Expressway (BKE), the Butterworth Outer Ring Road (BORR), the Jelutong Expressway (JEWAY) (now Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway) and the Penang Second Bridge.

The Penang Second Bridge, named as Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge, was officially opened on 1 March 2014 by the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak. This bridge is the longest bridge in Southeast Asia.

Iskandar Malaysia and Johor Bahru

The Johor-Singapore Causeway serves as the primary connection of Johor Bahru with Woodlands, Singapore. Johor Bahru, the capital city of Johor, is visible in the background
The Malaysia-Singapore Second Crossing serves as the secondary connection of Tanjung Kupang, Johor with Tuas, Singapore

The history of highways in Johor Bahru started in the 1980s when the city of Johor Bahru became a main southern international gateway to Malaysia from Singapore after the separation of Singapore from Malaysia on 9 August 1965.

The main reasons for building expressways in Johor Bahru are the increasing size of the Johor Bahru metropolitan area since it achieved city status on 1 January 1994, and the formation of the South Johor Economic Region (SJER) or Iskandar Development Region (IDR) (now Iskandar Malaysia) on 30 July 2006. Many townships have been constructed around Johor Bahru and industrial estates have been developed in areas such as Senai, Skudai, Tebrau, Pasir Gudang and Tampoi.

The first highway in Johor Bahru was Skudai Highway linking Senai to Johor Causeway, which was completed in 1985 and it was the first toll highway in Johor Bahru. However the toll plaza near Senai was abolished in 2004. Kempas Highway, the only state road in Malaysia constructed as a 2-lane highway was completed in 1994. The Malaysia-Singapore Second Crossing, which is the second link to Singapore after Johor Causeway, was opened to traffic on 18 April 1998.

Other expressway projects in Johor Bahru are Senai-Desaru Expressway (SDE) linking Senai in the west to Desaru in east coast of Johor, the Johor Bahru Eastern Dispersal Link Expressway (EDL) which linking Pandan interchange of the North-South Expressway to the new Sultan Iskandar CIQ Building in city centre, the Iskandar Coastal Highway linking Nusajaya in the west to the city centre in the east and the Johor Bahru East Coast Highway linking Kampung Bakar Batu passing through Permas Jaya, Taman Rinting and finally towards Pasir Gudang.

In addition to Johor Bahru Inner Ring Road (JBIRR) as the inner ring road in Johor Bahru, Pasir Gudang Highway, Second Link Expressway and Johor Bahru Parkway also act as middle ring roads of the city. Second Link Expressway and the Senai-Desaru Expressway may form the outer ring roads of Johor Bahru.

East Malaysia

Main article: Pan Borneo Highway
Tun Salahuddin Bridge, the only tolled expressway in East Malaysia. In the background is Kuching City Centre

The history of highways in East Malaysia started in the 1960s when the federal government decided to build the Pan Borneo Highway, linking Sarawak and Sabah state.

The Pan Borneo Highway project is a joint project between the governments of Brunei and Malaysia. The project started as soon as Sarawak and Sabah joined the federation of Malaysia in 1963. The lack of a road network system in Sarawak was the main factor of the construction.

There are one toll expressway, one toll federal highway and one toll state highway in Sarawak - the Tun Salahuddin Bridge in Kuching city, the Miri-Baram Highway in Miri Division, and the Lanang Bridge in Sibu. The Tun Salahuddin Bridge is the first only toll expressway in East Malaysia. However, the toll collection of both Lanang Bridge and Tun Salahuddin Bridge were abolished in 2015 and 2016 by the Sarawak state government.

On 31 March 2015, the dual carriageway toll free Pan Borneo Expressway in Sarawak was unveiled by the Federal Government. The highway project will be implemented with Lebuhraya Borneo Utara Sdn Bhd (LBU) as the Project Delivery Partner (PDP) managing and supervising its construction.

Features

Expressway standards

Malaysian expressway exit signs

The construction, standards, management and usage of expressways in Malaysia are subject to Federal Roads Act (Private Management) 1984. In Malaysia, expressways are defined as high-speed routes with at least four lanes (two in each direction) and should have full access control or partial access control. Most expressways in Malaysia are controlled-access expressways.

Expressways are defined as high-speed highways built under the JKR R6 rural highway standard, as dual-carriageways of at least 4 lanes (2 lanes per carriageway) with full access control, grade-separated interchanges and high design speed limit of 120 km/h, allowing the maximum speed limit of 110 km/h.[11] However, the section between Cahaya Baru and Penawar of the Senai-Desaru Expressway E22 is built as a two-lane single carriageway with the similar features as the Swiss autostrasse, making it as the first true two-lane controlled-access expressway in Malaysia followed by the section of Teluk Panglima Garang and Pulau Indah of the South Klang Valley Expressway (SKVE) E26[12] All expressways are considered federal highways, but administered by Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) and the respective concessionaire companies.

Highways, on the other hand, complement the national network of expressways and federal roads and built under the JKR R5 rural highway standard, with relatively high design speed limit (although not as high as the expressway speed limit) of 100 km/h, allowing the maximum speed limit of 90 km/h.[11] The highways are built with partial access control, and grade-spearated interchanges and at-grade crossings are both permitted. However, it is possible for a federal or state highway to be built with almost equivalent standard of an expressway with the exception of lower speed limit, for example the Federal Highway. Highways can be built either as dual-carriageway or two-lane single carriageway.

Before the mid-1990s, there were no specific coding system for the expressways. When more and more expressways were built, a system of expressway numbering was applied to all expressways. Expressways are labelled with the letter "E" followed by assigned numbers, for example the code for North-South Expressway southern route is E2. The expressways have green signs and the text colour is white.

However, there are some exceptions in some highways. Some highways like Federal Highway (Federal Route 2) and Skudai Highway (Federal Route 1) retain their federal route codes. In addition, there are some highways in Malaysia which are classified as municipal roads such as Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 1.

The syntax for highway exits in Malaysia is in the format EXIT xxnn or EXIT xxnn, where "xx" is the expressway code number (which can be one or two digits) and "nn" is the two-digit assigned number for each highway exit. For example, Johor Bahru exit at the end of North-South Expressway is labelled Exit 257, where the last two digits (57) are the assigned exit number and the first digit (2) is the expressway route number (E2). Meanwhile, Jalan Templer exit at the Federal Highway is labelled Exit 224, where the two digits (24) are the assigned exit number and the first digit (2) is the federal route number (2). Expressways have distance markers in green colour (blue for federal expressways and highways) placed every 100 m.

Route number categories

Expressway route numbers

ExamplesInformationNumber digits
E2
E38		Expressway route numbersE01 - E99
EXIT 253
EXIT 0123		Expressway exit numbersEXIT 201 - EXIT 299
EXIT 0100 - 0199

Federal route numbers

ExamplesInformationNumber digits
2
30
347		Main federal route numbers001 - 1999
EXIT 1
EXIT 201		Federal road exit numbers001 - 999
For more information, please refer to Road signs in Malaysia

Pavements

Most expressways are paved with typical tarmac, which is a mixture of fine stone chips and tar; however, some expressways are paved with concrete such as North-South Expressway Northern Route (from Bukit Lanjan Interchange, Selangor to Tapah interchange, Perak), New Klang Valley Expressway, North-South Expressway Southern Route (from Ayer Keroh interchange, Melaka to Tangkak interchange, Johor), SMART Tunnel and Skudai-Pontian Highway (from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia interchange to Taman Sri Pulai junction). Meanwhile, at Federal Highway linking Klang to Kuala Lumpur, the section of the expressway from Subang Jaya to Kota Darul Ehsan near Petaling Jaya is paved with asphalt.

Malaysian expressway code logo with highway concessionaries logo and SOS hotline

Expressway monitoring and maintenance

Monitoring

Since 1986, Malaysian expressways have been built by private companies under the supervision of the government highway authority, Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia (Malaysian Highway Authority). Every private concession company, such as PLUS Expressways, ANIH Berhad (formerly MTD Prime) and the others have monitored and maintained their expressways.

Maintenance

Projek Penyelenggaraan Lebuhraya Berhad (PROPEL) has undertaken repair and maintenance works on highway facilities, such as road works and repair works, road line painting, cleaning works on laybys and rest and service areas, trimming grass and landscaping along expressway areas, installing road furniture, and others. Meanwhile, the PROPEL Response Team Unit is a special response team unit.

The Karak Expressway and East Coast Expressway are maintained by Alloy Consolidated Sdn Bhd.

Traffic management

Since late 2006, every expressway in Malaysia has been monitored by the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) Traffic Management Centre (LLM TMC). However, in some parts of Klang Valley, the expressways are monitored by the Integrated Transport Information System (ITIS); expressways in George Town, Penang are monitored by the Penang Island City Council.

Malaysian Highway Authority traffic information page

Toll system

Types of toll systems

Every expressway and highway in Malaysia has a toll system, which is either a closed toll system or open toll system. All transactions are in Malaysian Ringgit (RM)

Open system

Users only have to pay at certain toll plazas within the open system range for a fixed amount.

Closed system

Users collect toll tickets (North South Expressway issues the PLUSTransit cards and other closed toll expressways such as East Coast Expressway and South Klang Valley Expressway issues the transit card) before entering the expressway at respective toll plazas and pay an amount of toll at the exit toll plaza plus the distance from the plaza to the Limit of Maintenance Responsibility (LMR). The toll rate in this system is based on the distance traveled.

Starting 18 June 2013, the PLUSTransit reusable transit cards has been implemented at all PLUS expressways network to replace the transit ticket.

Electronic toll collection

There are two types of the electronic toll collection (ETC) systems, Touch 'n Go card unit and Smart TAG on board unit. Touch 'n Go and Smart TAG, have been made compulsory in all expressways since 1 July 2004, following the instruction of the Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu. Other electronic payment systems that were previously used by other highway operators such as PLUS TAG for all PLUS expressways network, Express TAG for Shah Alam Expressway, FasTrak for Damansara-Puchong Expressway and Sprint Expressway and SagaTag in Cheras - Kajang Expressway, were abolished in a move to standardise the electronic payment method.

Multi Lane Free Flow

The Multi Lane Free Flow (MLFF) is an electronic toll collection system that allows free flow high speed toll system highway for all its users. With MLFF, the current toll lanes at toll plazas will be replaced with readers at gantry across the highway to detect vehicle and deduct toll using the existing ETC when fully implemented. The Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA) is planning to implement MLFF system at all highways in stages starting 2010.

Toll rebate

Beginning 1 September 2009, the 20 per cent rebate given to motorists who pay toll charges more than 80 times a month, can be saved for up to six months. The rebate can be redeemed at 126 locations which would be announced in due time.

Toll rate classes

Malaysian expressway toll rate list signboard

There are fixed toll rate classes for every Malaysian expressway except for the Penang Bridge and the SMART Tunnel where toll rates are not the same.

Sungai Besi Toll Plaza on North-South Expressway in Kuala Lumpur

Expressways

These classes apply to every expressway in Malaysia (including Johor-Singapore Causeway, Malaysia-Singapore Second Link and Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge):

ClassType of vehiclesPaymentNotes
0Motorcycles
(Vehicles with two axles and two wheels)		FreeExcept:

Tanjung Kupang Toll Plaza (Malaysia-Singapore Second Link) and Perai Toll Plaza (Penang Bridge)
TnG

Bandar Cassia-JKSB Toll Plaza (Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge)
TnG
1Private Cars
(Vehicles with two axles and three or four wheels (excluding taxi and bus))		RM (Cash) TnG TAG
2Vans and other small good vehicles
(Vehicles with two axles and six wheels (excluding bus))		RM (Cash) TnG TAG
3Large Trucks
(Vehicles with three or more axles (excluding bus))		RM (Cash) TnG Except:
TnG for:
all Opened Toll Systems
Closed Toll Systems such as Kajang-Seremban Highway, South Klang Valley Expressway, Senai-Desaru Expressway and North-South Expressway Northern Route (Hutan Kampung - Sungai Dua).
4TaxisRM (Cash) TnGCash only, paid by passengers only.

Except:
TnG for:
all Opened Toll Systems
Closed Toll Systems such as Kajang-Seremban Highway, South Klang Valley Expressway, Senai-Desaru Expressway and North-South Expressway Northern Route (Hutan Kampung - Sungai Dua).
5BusesRM (Cash) TnGExcept:
TnG for:
all Opened Toll Systems
Closed Toll Systems such as Kajang-Seremban Highway, South Klang Valley Expressway, Senai-Desaru Expressway and North-South Expressway Northern Route (Hutan Kampung - Sungai Dua).

Note:
RapidKL buses using TnG and TAG for Bus Expressway Transit (BET) at all toll plazas in the Klang Valley.

Malaysian expressways toll plaza with Smart TAG and Touch 'n Go lanes
PLUS Expressways transit ticket
Malaysian expressway toll receipt

Penang Bridge

ClassType of vehiclesPaymentNotes
1Motorcycles, bicycles or vehicles with 2 or less wheelsTnG
2Motorcycle with sidecars, cars including station wagon and commercial vehicles on three wheelsTnG TAG For taxis, toll charges are paid by passengers using Touch 'n Go only.
3Lorries, vans and buses with two axles and four wheelsTnG TAG
4Lorries, vans and buses with two axles and five and six wheelsTnG
5Vehicles with three axlesTnG
6Vehicles with four axlesTnG
7Vehicles with five or more axlesTnG

SMART Tunnel

ClassType of vehiclesPaymentNotes
1 Private Cars
(Vehicles with two axles and three or four wheels (excluding taxis)) 		TnG TAG
4 TaxisTnG TAGToll charges are paid by passengers using Touch 'n Go only.
The Sungai Perak Rest and Service Area, Perak of the North-South Expressway Northern Route.
The Machap Rest and Service Area, Johor of the North-South Expressway Southern Route.

Facilities

There are several facilities provided along Malaysian expressway as follows:-

Interchanges

These are the different types of expressway interchanges in Malaysia:

Safety

Speed limits

Two-Lane 110 km/h of North-South Expressway near Tangkak, Johor.

The default National Speed Limit on Malaysian expressways is 110 km/h (70 mph), but in certain areas a lower speed limit (such as 90 km/h (55 mph) or 80 km/h (50 mph)) is applied, especially in single carriageway expressway, large urban areas, crosswinds, heavy traffic and in dangerous mountainous routes and 60 km/h is applied 1 km before the toll plaza Speed traps are also deployed by the Malaysian police at many places along the expressways.

Excluded vehicles

These vehicles may not use the expressways:

PLUS Expressways networks and East Coast Expressway (ECE)

North-South Expressway Northern Route

(Sungai Buloh - Bukit Lanjan), New Klang Valley Expressway (Shah Alam - Jalan Duta), Federal Highway (Sungai Rasau - Batu Tiga): Monday to Friday (Except Public Holidays) from 6.30am to 9.30am

Ampang-Kuala Lumpur Elevated Highway (AKLEH)

Maju Expressway (MEX) (Kuala Lumpur-Putrajaya Expressway (KLPE))

SMART Tunnel

Accidents

Malaysian expressways are potential sites of fatal highway accidents in Malaysia, especially during festive seasons. However, accidents in Malaysia happen on federal, state, and municipal roads. Most road accidents are caused by the attitude of certain road users who drive dangerously over the speed limit.

Emergency lanes are for emergency vehicles only and for stopping area if breakdown. However, most Malaysians are still not aware about the safety by using the emergency lanes as an alternative route during traffic jam.

Accident-prone areas

During workdays/peak hours

During workdays or peak hours, there are many restricted routes on the expressways especially in the Klang Valley and Penang to ease congestion during peak hours in the morning such as Federal Highway (Sungai Rasau - Subang), New Klang Valley Expressway (Shah Alam - Jalan Duta), North-South Expressway Northern Route (Rawang - Bukit Lanjan) and Penang Bridge. Heavy vehicles (except buses and tankers) with laden and unladen heavy vehicles weighing 10,000 kg or more are not allowed to enter the expressway between 6:30 am until 9:30 am on Monday to Friday (except public holidays). A compound fines will be issued to heavy vehicles which flouted the rule.

During festive seasons

During festive seasons such as Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Christmas and Hari Raya, activities such as construction, road repairs and maintenance works are temporarily stopped to ensure a smoother traffic flow on the expressways. Meanwhile, heavy goods vehicles such as logging trucks, cement trucks, container trucks, construction materials trucks and other heavy goods vehicles (except tanker lorry, provision goods truck, crane, tow truck, fire engine, ambulance, etc.) are banned from using roads, highways, and expressways during festive seasons. A massive nationwide operation known as Ops Selamat (previously called Ops Sikap) is held annually by the Malaysian police to ensure safety on all roads in Malaysia during festive seasons. To smooth traffic flow during peak periods in the festive seasons, a Travel Time Advisory (TTA) has been set up at all interstate expressways such as PLUS Expressways network and East Coast Expressway.

Automated Enforcement System

The Automated Enforcement System (AES) is the road safety enforcement system to monitored all federal roads, highways and expressways in Malaysia. This system came into effect on 22 September 2012.

Type of AES

Natural hazards

Other hazardous conditions on expressways include landslides, crosswinds, fog, storms, road damages, paddy (jerami) burning activities and flash floods.

List of landslide-prone areas

List of crosswind-prone areas

List of flash flood-prone areas

Controversial issues

There are several controversial issues regarding the construction of expressways. The main issue is the increase of toll rates, which can be a huge burden especially for residents of Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding Klang Valley conurbation.[13]

There are also various parties who question the capability of the numerous expressways in Klang Valley to overcome traffic congestion, which does not show signs of improvement with the construction of new expressways. Three chief factors were blamed for the urban expressway congestion, namely the short-sighted policies by the authorities, greedy property developers, and the failure of local municipal councils to control the development in the Klang Valley.[14]

There are also several protests being held by residents of some housing areas being affected by several planned expressways, such as the Sungai Besi – Ulu Kelang Expressway (SUKE), Damansara-Shah Alam Highway (DASH) and Kinrara-Damansara Expressway (KIDEX Skyway) (project scrapped on 2014). Environmental issues such as road noise and worsening congestion became the chief reasons of those protests.[13]

Other controversial issues include the following:

  1. The cracks found on beams on the Kepong Flyover in Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 2 (MRR2) on 10 August 2004.
  2. The flyover which collapsed on Setia Alam Interchange in New Klang Valley Expressway during construction on 10 July 2005, where, tragically, about 4 lives were lost.
  3. The 8 fallen I-beams at the Pajam Interchange in Negri Sembilan during the construction of the Kajang-Seremban Highway (LEKAS Highway) on the night of 27 September 2007.
  4. The ramp collapse at the Batu Maung Interchange at Batu Maung side of the Penang Second Bridge during construction on 6 June 2013 killing one person.

Facts

List of expressways and highways

Films

These films were filmed mainly on Malaysian expressways:

FilmsTypes of filmExpressway locations
Tragedi OktoberLocal Malay film starring AwieAlong New Klang Valley Expressway
SembiluLocal Malay film starring AwieAlong North-South Expressway Northern Route
Remp-ItLocal Malay filmAlong Shah Alam Expressway
KL Menjerit Local Malay film starring Rosyam NorAlong KL IRR, KL MRR1 and North-South Expressway Southern Route
KL Menjerit 1Local Malay film, prequel of KL MenjeritAlong North-South Expressway Southern Route
Don - The Chase Begins AgainBollywood film starring Shah Rukh KhanBukit Kiara interchange
Sprint Expressway
Skyline CruisersHong Kong Cantonese filmPutra Mahkota interchange
North-South Expressway Southern Route
Evolusi KL DriftLocal Malay film starring Fasha SandhaAlong streets, roads and highways in Kuala Lumpur
Along roads and highways in Putrajaya
Evolusi KL Drift 2Local Malay film starring Fasha SandhaAlong streets, roads and highways in Kuala Lumpur
Along roads and highways in Putrajaya
KarakLocal Malay filmEXIT 813 Karak Interchange near Kuala Lumpur – Karak Expressway
KongsiLocal Malay filmAlong streets, roads and highways in Kuala Lumpur
SMART Tunnel
PE3Local Malay film North-South Expressway Southern Route to Penang Bridge
Bikers KentalMalay film North-South Expressway Southern Route to Thailand Boarder

Televisions

Dramas

TV seriesTypes of TV seriesExpressway locations
Dari Fail Peronda LebuhrayaMalay dramaNorth-South Expressway
Impak Maksima, the seriesMalay dramaSprint Expressway

Documentary

TV seriesTypes of TV seriesExpressway locations
Discovery Channel's
Extreme Engineering		DocumentarySMART Tunnel
National Geographic Channel's
Truly Malaysia		DocumentarySMART Tunnel
Science Channel's
Man Made Marvels		DocumentarySMART Tunnel
National Geographic Channel's
Megastructures		DocumentarySMART Tunnel
Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge (Penang Second Bridge)

Video games

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Malaysian Highway Authority. "Malaysian Highway Authority - Background". Malaysian Highway Authority. Retrieved 2015-11-09.
  2. 1 2 Official data from Malaysian Highway Authority
  3. ↑ Razak Thamrin (2010-02-24). "Hakikat kenaikan tol sukar dielakkan". Utusan Malaysia. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  4. ↑ Official data from Malaysian Highway Concessionaires Company Association (PSKLM)
  5. 1 2 Malaysian Sectional Asian Highway data (XLS) - from the official UNESCAP Asian Highway Network website.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 ERIA Study Team. "Current Status of ASEAN Transport Sector" (PDF). ASEAN Strategic Transport Plan 2011–2015. Jakarta: ASEAN Secretariat and ERIA: 3–1 – 3–95. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 "Asian Highway Database: AH Network in Member Countries". United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Archived from the original on 2013-01-25. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  8. ↑ Singaporean Sectional Asian Highway data (XLS) - from the official UNESCAP Asian Highway Network website.
  9. ↑ The Genting Sempah Tunnel is adopted from Terowong jalan raya paling panjang - Buku Rekod Malaysia Edisi Kedua, Ghulam Jie M Khan
  10. ↑ "New highways to KL International Airport". The Star. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
  11. 1 2 Arahan Teknik (Jalan) 8/86 - A Guide on Geometric Design of Roads, Jabatan Kerja Raya Malaysia
  12. 1 2 "Reviu eksklusif Lebuhraya Senai-Desaru E22" (in Malay). Blog Jalan Raya Malaysia. 2012-08-23. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  13. 1 2 "Demonstrasi dan bantahan lebuh raya ekspres: Apa puncanya" (in Malay). Blog Jalan Raya Malaysia. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  14. ↑ Wong, Pauline (10 October 2013). "All roads lead to misery". The Heat. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
  15. ↑ "Majlis pecah tanah Lebuhraya Kota Bharu-Kuala Krai / Kota Bharu-Kuala Krai Expressway ground-breaking ceremony". Blog Jalan Raya Malaysia. 28 May 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
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