North–South Expressway (Malaysia)

The North–South Expressway is a network of tolled controlled-access highways running through the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The expressway network consists of the northern and southern route, having a total length of 772 kilometres (480 miles). Running through seven states and connecting the Thailand and Singapore borders, the North–South Expressway is an important thoroughfare for local, interstate and international traffic. The expressway is part of route AH2, a designation of the Asian Highway Network.
The expressways were first conceived in 1977 due to increasing congestion on federal route 1, which was the main north–south thoroughfare at the time. However, economic uncertainties and the high cost meant that construction did not begin until 1981. The expressway began opening in stages from 1982, but the economic downturn at the time meant that construction had stalled and the work had to be fully privatised. The expressways were finally completed in 1994, with the tolls collected from the operational sections funding the remainder of the construction work.
The North–South Expressway is divided into 2 main routes – the northern (route E1) and the southern (route E2). Both routes run parallel to the federal route 1 from Johor Bahru to Bukit Kayu Hitam. Each component expressway begins at the furthest end of the expressway from Kuala Lumpur. While the E2 terminates at the Selangor–Kuala Lumpur border, the E1 ends at Bukit Lanjan before proceeding to the city via the New Klang Valley Expressway, which is also gazetted as route E1. The E1 and E2 expressways are linked together via the North–South Expressway Central Link, E6.
While most of the expressway was construct according to JKR R6 design standards being defined in the Arahan Teknik 8/86: A Guide on Geometric Design of Roads (controlled-access expressway with design speed limit of 120 km/h and lane width of 3.5 m), the Jitra–Bukit Kayu Hitam section does not adhere to the JKR R6 standards and was grandfathered as part of the E1 expressway, as the section was constructed before the Arahan Teknik 8/86 was published by the Malaysian Public Works Department in 1986.
The North–South Expressway was constructed due to the congestion along the federal route 1 as a result of increasing traffic. In 1977, the government proposed to build a new north–south divided highway as an alternative to the federal route 1. The proposal to build the new highway was mooted as a result of the severe congestion along the Federal Route 1. Because of the large cost of the project, the highway was planned to be privatised and tolled, but none of the constructors being invited by the government were willing to do the job due to economic uncertainties at that time and the plan could not be materialised. It was only after Mahathir Mohamad became the Prime Minister that the North–South Expressway project was revived. The project was launched in 1981.
The Malaysian Highway Authority was established on 24 October 1980 to supervise and execute the design, construction, regulation, operation and maintenance of inter-urban highways, to impose and collect tolls, to enter into contracts and to provide for matters connected therewith. At that time, all construction works of the expressway between 1982 and 1988 was solely administered by Malaysian Highway Authority before being transferred to Projek Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan Berhad on 13 May 1988.
The construction of the expressway was done in stages. As the construction works continued, segments of the highway were opened to traffic as they were finished to help fund the construction works. The Jitra–Bukit Kayu Hitam section was constructed as an upgrade of the existing Federal Route 1 section into a divided highway with partial access control and at-grade intersections. At that time, the construction of the Kuala Lumpur–Seremban Expressway was ongoing, and therefore the expressway would later form the pioneer route for the southern route. The Kuala Lumpur–Seremban Expressway, which was opened on 16 June 1982, was the first completed section of the North–South Expressway project and became the first expressway to implement the ticket system (closed toll system), then followed by the Jitra–Bukit Kayu Hitam section in 1985. Unlike the other sections of the North–South Expressway, the Jitra–Bukit Kayu Hitam section did not comply with the expressway standards defined by the Arahan Teknik 8/86: A Guide on Geometric Design of Roads which was only published by the Malaysian Public Works Department (JKR) later in 1986, resulting the section to be grandfathered as a part of the North–South Expressway E1.
The third section being opened to motorists was the Seberang Jaya–Perai section. The section was constructed as a part of the Penang Bridge project; hence, the section forms the pioneer route for the Penang section of the North–South Expressway. The Seberang Jaya–Perai section, together with the Penang Bridge, was opened on 14 September 1985.
Meanwhile, the 27.3-km Skudai Highway was constructed in Johor Bahru as another upgrade of route 1 in the south. The toll road had two toll plazas at the Senai and at the Johor Causeway. It was constructed by the Malaysian Public Works Department (JKR) before being handed over to Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) in November 1985. The extensive urbanisation of Johor Bahru however had rendered the Skudai Highway FT1 to be unsuitable to become a part of the North–South Expressway E2, as the Skudai Highway FT1 is not a controlled-access highway. Nevertheless, the toll road and the North–South Expressway were acquired by Projek Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan Berhad. However, various parties especially residents of Senai and political parties urged that the toll collection be abolished due to the lack of toll-free alternative. As a result, the toll collection at Senai toll plaza was abolished on 1 March 2004. After the toll collection at Senai was abolished, the highway had been maintained by the Malaysian Public Works Department. The Johor Causeway toll plaza remained in operation until 2008, when the former Johor Bahru CIQ Complex was closed and replaced by the Sultan Iskandar CIQ Complex, and the access to the new CIQ complex and the Johor–Singapore Causeway is provided by the Johor Bahru Eastern Dispersal Link Expressway.
The next completed sections were the Ipoh–Changkat Jering and Senawang–Ayer Keroh sections in 1987. The Senawang–Ayer Keroh section was built as an extension of the Kuala Lumpur–Seremban Expressway. The toll collection of the Kuala Lumpur–Seremban Expressway was from Sungai Besi to Labu. As a result of the completion of the Senawang–Ayer Keroh section, the old Labu Toll Plaza was demolished and was replaced by three toll plaza interchanges at Exit 218 Seremban Interchange, Exit 219 Port Dickson Interchange and Exit 220 Senawang Interchange; the Senawang Interchange was constructed by rerouting the through traffic to Ayer Keroh and southwards.
During the initial phases, the North–South Expressway project was criticized for its sluggish progress pace. As of 1986, only about 350 km (or two-thirds of the entire length) of the expressway was completed. The work progress became worse due to the nationwide economic setback caused by the falling prices of commodities like rubber and tin. As a result, the government had to revise its initial policy of having the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) to execute the entire construction job and decided to have the expressway project to be privatised, citing the success of the privatisation of the North Klang Straits Bypass in 1985 by Shapadu A letter of intention was sent to United Engineers (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. (now UEM Group) on 29 December 1986 before being finalised in 1988. The privatisation agreement had led to the formation of Highway Concessionaires Berhad which would later become Projek Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan Berhad (PLUS). PLUS took over the construction, operation and maintenance jobs of the North–South Expressway from LLM starting from March 1998, together with the Skudai Highway FT1.
After the North–South Expressway project was privatised in 1988, the construction work progress continued at a faster pace. The first section completed by PLUS was the Ayer Keroh–Pagoh section on 5 April 1989.
By March 1990, PLUS had given 40 civil works contracts for the construction of the North-South Expressway and the North Klang Valley Expressway.
In May 1992, UEM began accelerating the construction of North-South Expressway, ahead of the deadline of the concession agreement set for May 1995. By 1992, PLUS had already given 41 contracts worth RM 4.7 billion.
The 31-km New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) E1 was opened on 11 January 1993, connecting major cities in the Klang Valley with the North–South Expressway northern route. The remaining sections were opened gradually until the entire expressway was fully completed and opened in February 1994, 15 months ahead of schedule.
The expressway was officially opened on 8 September 1994 by Malaysian prime minister at that time, Mahathir Mohamad, at the Rawang rest area. After the North–South Expressway was completed in 1994, the expressway took the role of the Federal Route 1 as the main backbone route in Peninsular Malaysia.
The North–South Expressway Monument was erected at Rawang Rest and Service Area (R&R) (North bound) near Rawang, Selangor on 8 September 1994. A capsule was put in place that contains documents that have been cultivated by the fourth prime minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad in conjunction with the official opening of the North–South Expressway on 8 September 1994. The capsule will be released after the expiry of the concession of the North–South Expressway by PLUS Expressways on 31 December 2038.
The monument is inscribed in Malay. The English version reads:
Plans to upgrade the stretches from Slim River to Tanjung Malim, Tanjung Malim to Rawang (Northern route), Seremban to Senawang, and Senawang to Ayer Keroh (Southern route) was approved by the government for better traffic flow. It was completed in 2007.
The Jelapang and Ipoh South toll plazas were demolished in 2009 to make a non-stop route across Ipoh. This is achieved through the construction of two local-express lanes for each side, which are only accessible via Exit 138 Ipoh South Exit (for northbound traffic) and Exit 141 Ipoh North Exit (for southbound traffic). The toll plazas in Ipoh are therefore relocated at each ends of the local-express lanes.
The decision to demolish both toll plazas was made as a result of accidents which happened at Jelapang toll plaza. Since the toll plaza was opened on 28 September 1987, there were many accident cases which involved brake failure in heavy vehicles due to hard braking when proceeding downhill to the toll plaza. On 7 June 2008, the new Ipoh North toll plaza (South bound) replacing old Jelapang toll plaza opened to traffic, followed by north bound on 15 August 2008. Beginning 11:00 am on 14 July 2009, the Kuala Lumpur–Penang through traffic is now opened to traffic. With the opening of the 14.7-kilometre (9.1 mi) between Ipoh North (Jelapang) and Ipoh South stretch, highway users are no longer required to stop for toll transactions at the Ipoh North and Ipoh South Toll Plazas.
In July 2010, the operator PLUS Expressways Berhad announced that the government has awarded contracts to build a fourth lane on certain stretches of the highway, namely from Shah Alam to Jalan Duta, from Shah Alam to Rawang and from Nilai (North) to Port Dickson. The upgrading works for this project began in October 2012 and was completed in 2015.
Plus Expressways Berhad changes older Sodium-vapor lamp lighting to a new LED lamp lighting when needed frequently. The North–South Expressway southern route from Sungai Besi Toll Plaza to Nilai Utara exit and most of North–South Expressway Central Link lighting was changed. In the North–South Expressway northern route, lighting was added to sharp turns and hazardous sections. (Gua Tempurung stretch and Kuala Kangsar–Jelapang stretch which are both highland roads with dangerous corners)
On 16 December 2021, the North-South Expressway completes its RFID Tag MyRFID network thus making all tolled roads on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia have a MyRFID toll booth.
Generally the expressway consists of four lanes, two for each direction.
There are some exceptions to this; the following are stretches with six lanes or eight lanes (three or four each way)
North–South Expressway is designed as a high-speed long distance expressway therefore the default speed limit on the expressway is 110 km/h (68 mph), but there are some exceptions in some places for several reasons, including:-
Most heavy vehicles are only allowed to travel 80–90 km/h by law. Considering that two lanes are inadequate for smooth traffic flow, the expressway is being widened as a result of the increasing number of fatal accidents along this highway.
It has been recently decided that the two-lane 110 km/h highway will be upgraded to a three-lane 110 km/h highway to prevent accidents, however another lane was being added on the selected stretches to increase it to four lanes.
The North–South Expressway is a toll expressway. Since 26 April 2017, all toll plazas are fully electronic with cash no longer being accepted. Payment is done by the Touch 'n Go electronic payment system through the use of Touch 'n Go cards, PLUSMiles Touch 'n Go cards, SmartTAG and Touch 'n Go RFID.
The North–South Expressway uses two toll systems:-
For junction list, see North–South Expressway Northern Route, North–South Expressway Central Link and North–South Expressway Southern Route.
Pos Malaysia issued commemorative postage stamps to mark the opening of the North–South Expressway on 10 September 1994. The denominations for these stamps were 30 sen, 50 sen, and RM1.00.