The North-South Expressway (Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan) is the longest expressway in Malaysia with the total length of 848 km running from Bukit Kayu Hitam in Kedah near the Malaysian-Thai border to Johor Bahru at southern Malaysia. The expressway links many major cities and towns in western Peninsular Malaysia. It is also known as PLUS Expressway, named after the company that holds the concession of the expressway.

It is divided into two main routes, E1 (northern route from Bukit Kayu Hitam to Kuala Lumpur) and E2 (southern route from Kuala Lumpur to Johor Bahru). Another short route known as North Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) is linked from Bukit Lanjan exit in Kuala Lumpur to Bukit Raja, Klang and this short route is also included in E1 route. Penang Bridge, a toll bridge that connects the island of Penang and the mainland is also linked to E1 route.

Both routes are ended temporarily in Kuala Lumpur and are connected together by Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 1.

Technical specifications

• Name: North-South Expressway
• Concession holder: Plus Expressway Berhad
• Concession starting date: May 1988
• Concession ending date: May 2018
• Highway exits: 75
• Toll plazas: 65
• Highway tunnels: 1

Generally the expressway consists of 4 lanes, 2 for each directions but there are some stretches with 6 lanes:-

• Sungai Besi to Seremban
• Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur and North Klang Valley Expressway to Rawang
• Juru to Sungai Dua, located at Penang.

Recently, plans to upgrade the stretches from Tanjung Malim to Rawang and Seremban to Melaka has been approved by the government for better traffic flow within those stretches.

Speed limit

Generally the speed limit on the North-South Expressway is 110 km/h, but there are some exceptions in some places, including:-

• Kuala Kangsar-Jelapang stretch: 80 km/h
• Gua Tempurung stretch: 90 km/h
• Bukit Lanjan exit to Jalan Duta exit: 80 km/h
• Sungai Besi to Bangi: 90 km/h
• Simpang Ampat to Ayeh Keroh, both in Melaka: 90 km/h

Toll system

The North-South expressway is a toll expressway with two toll systems:-

• 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 before entering the expressway at respective toll plazas and pay an amount of toll at the exit toll plaza. The toll rate in this system is based on the distance traveled.

Facilities along the expressway

• Rest and service areas located about 60 km from each other
• Layby parking areas located about every 2 toll plazas
• Overhead restaurants at Ayer Keroh and Sungai Buloh
• Emergency phones every 2 km
• PLUS Ronda service to assist in case of sudden engine breakdown on the expressway

History

The planning of the national expressway starts at mid-1970's. In 1977, the Malaysian Department of Works received an official instruction to draw plans of an expressway from Malaysia-Thailand border (Bukit Kayu Hitam) to Johor Causeway . In 1980, Malaysian Highway Authority was established to monitor all the work progress of the first national expressway.

At that time, all construction works of the expressway between 1981 to 1988 was solely administered by Malaysian Highway Authority (Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia) before transferred to Plus Expressway Berhad in 1988. As the construction works continued, some finished segments were opened to traffic little by little to help funding the construction works. Plus Expressway Berhad continued all the construction works from 1988 and completed in 1994, 15 months earlier than scheduled. The expressway was officially opened on September 8, 1994 by Malaysian prime minister at that time, Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad.

See also

• Malaysian expressway system
• Highway

External links

• PLUS Expressway Berhad
• Malaysian Highway Authority