Chronology of Malaysian Expressway System events

This is a chronology of major events in the Malaysian Expressway System.

Date	Events	Remarks
1960s	Federal Highway Route , which is the first dual-carriageway highway in Malaysia was opened to traffic. It connects Port Swettenham (now Port Klang) to Kuala Lumpur.	Length : 45 kilometres
Early 1970s	The idea to built a bridge linking Seberang Perai to Penang Island was suggested by the late Tun Abdul Razak, the second Prime Minister of Malaysia.
1974	The Tanjung Malim-Slim River tolled road (Federal Route ), Malaysia's first tolled expressway was opened to traffic.	Length : 20 kilometres
End of 1970s	The Penang Bridge was planned during the term of third Prime Minister, Tun Hussein Onn.
June 1977	The construction of the North-South Expressway had begun.
1979	Opening of the Genting Sempah Tunnel and Karak Highway.	Length : 60 kilometres
24 October 1980	Constitution of the Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA)	Established by Act of Parliament as a statutory body in 1981
23 July 1981	Works Minister S. Samy Vellu announced that the Penang Bridge, Penang would be constructed using the cable-stayed concrete girder of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge instead of the steel-tied arch in the style of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
2 January 1982	All roads, highways and expressways in Malaysia are now switched to the Metric unit of kilometres replacing Imperial unit of miles.
16 June 1982	Official opening of the Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Expressway	Length : 47 kilometres
1982	Construction of the Penang Bridge officially began
1 April 1985	Official Opening of the Bukit Kayu Hitam – Jitra Highway	Length : 24 kilometres
3 August 1985	Official opening of the Penang Bridge	YAB Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad Length : 13.5 kilometres
14 September 1985	Penang Bridge is officially opened to traffic.
2 November 1985	Official Opening of the Senai – Johor Bahru Highway	Length : 25 kilometres
27 June 1986	Formation of Highway Concessionnaires Berhad, the first highway concessionaire in Malaysia
13 August 1987	Official Opening of the Seremban – Ayer Keroh Highway and the closing of the old Seremban Toll Plaza near Labu	Length : 68.4 kilometres
28 September 1987	Official Opening of the Ipoh – Changkat Jering Highway	Length : 53.4 kilometres
13 May 1988	Highway Concessionaires Berhad changes its name to Projek Lebuhraya Utara Selatan Berhad (PLUS)
6 June 1988	Official Opening of the Jitra – Gurun Highway	Length : 59 kilometres
1 April 1989	Official Opening of the Ayer Keroh – Pagoh Highway	Length : 54.4 kilometres
1 April 1990	First Malaysian highway patrol "PLUSRonda Patrol Unit" formed	To assist users stranded on highways
7 December 1990	Official Opening of the Bukit Raja – Damansara Highway	Length : 21.1 kilometres
14 April 1991	Official Opening of the Gurun – Sungai Petani Highway	Length : 24.8 kilometres
28 March 1992	Official Opening of the Damansara – Rawang Highway	Length : 28.4 kilometres
1 August 1992	Official Opening of the Rawang – Tanjung Malim Highway	Length : 43 kilometres
1 October 1992	Official Opening of the Yong Peng (N) – Pagoh Highway	Length : 47 kilometres
1 January 1993	The Malaysian Highway Network Development Plan blueprint is launched
11 January 1993	Official Opening of the Bukit Lanjan – Jalan Duta Highway and the New Klang Valley Expressway	YAB Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad Total Length : 35 kilometres Bukit Lanjan – Jalan Duta Highway Length : 8.3 kilometres
25 June 1993	Official Opening of the Simpang Pulai – Gopeng Highway	Length : 10 kilometres
12 August 1993	Official Opening of the Yong Peng (N) – Machap Highway	Length : 26.7 kilometres
17 August 1993	Official Opening of the Sungai Petani – Butterworth Highway	Length : 28.5 kilometres
1 October 1993	Official Opening of the Tapah – Tanjung Malim Highway	Length : 72.5 kilometres
1 November 1993	Official Opening of the Sedenak – Skudai Highway	Length : 27.6 kilometres
14 November 1993	Official Opening of the Federal Highway Route 2 tolled highway Batu Tiga - Sungai Rasau	Length : 15 kilometres
8 January 1994	Official Opening of the Machap – Sedenak Highway	Length : 31.7 kilometres
8 January 1994	Official Opening of the Skudai – Johor Bahru Highway	Length : 17.3 kilometres
16 January 1994	Official Opening of the Ipoh Selatan – Simpang Pulai Highway	Length : 13.6 kilometres
5 February 1994	Official Opening of the Juru – Changkat Jering Highway	Length : 79.5 kilometres
7 February 1994	Official Opening of the Gopeng – Tapah Highway	Last stretch Length : 30.3 kilometres Completed 15 months ahead of schedule
1 March 1994	The construction of the North-South Expressway Central Link began
22 March 1994	Construction of the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link officially began
8 September 1994	Official Opening of the North-South Expressway	YAB Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad Length : 966 kilometres
August 1994	Official opening of the '''Salak Expressway	Length : kilometres
September 1994	Official launch of the PLUS TAG, the first electronic payment system (EPS) in Malaysia	From Rawang to Bukit Raja on North South Expressway Northern Route and NKVE From Sungai Rasau to Batu Tiga on Federal Highway Route 2 (FHR2)
11 March 1996	Official Opening of the Sungai Buloh Overhead Bridge Restaurant	First Overhead Bridge Restauant in Malaysia opened on NSE
June 1996	Official opening of the Seafield - Sri Petaling sections of the Shah Alam Expressway and the Shah Alam - USJ sections of the North-South Expressway Central Link.
18 March 1997	The Official launch of the Touch 'n Go Electronic Payment System (EPS)
October 1997	Official Opening of the Shah Alam Expressway and the North-South Expressway Central Link.	Shah Alam Expressway Length : kilometres North-South Expressway Central Link Length : kilometres
November 1997	Karak Highway is upgraded to a four-lane expressway
18 April 1998	Official Opening of the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link (including the Tuas Checkpoint on the Singapore side, Sultan Abu Bakar Custom, Immigration and Quarantine Checkpoint and Second Link Expressway on the Malaysia side)	YAB Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad Prime Minister of Singapore Mr Goh Chok Tong Length : kilometres
June 1998	Official opening of the Butterworth-Kulim Expressway	Length : kilometres
17 October 1998	PLUSRonda is the first highway patrol in Malaysia to be given Auxiliary Police power.
15 January 1999	Official opening of the Cheras - Kajang Expressway	Length : 11.5 kilometres
February 1999	Official opening of the Damansara-Puchong Expressway	Length : kilometres
15 March 1999	Official launching of Smart TAG on-board unit (OBU) and lanes on NSE replaced PLUS TAG	21 plazas from Bukit Beruntung to Senawang
11 April 1999	Official opening of the Ayer Keroh Overhead Bridge Restaurant	Second OBR opened on NSE
15 May 1999	Official opening of the Sungai Besi Expressway	Length : kilometres
1 February 2000	Construction of the East Coast Expressway began.
4 February 2000	First Drive-Through Purchase and Refill Touch ‘n Go card lane (POS) opened on NSE (Subang Toll Plaza)	TNG users can refill and purchase new TNG card directly from the lane without the hassle of going to customer service centres.
15 March 2000	TNG POS lane opened at Batu Tiga Toll Plaza
April 2000	Official opening of Galeri Seni Art on PLUS	Ayer Keroh OBR First art gallery on highway
2 May 2000	TNG POS lane opened at Sungai Besi Toll Plaza
August 2000	SmartTAG lanes opened at five more toll plazas	Allow users to use SmartTAG from North to South Sungai Dua, Juru, Jelapang, Ipoh Selatan and Skudai toll plazas
8 August 2000	TNG POS lane opened at Ipoh Selatan, Damansara, Rawang, Sungai Buloh, Bukit Raja, Sungai Rasau and Kajang toll plazas.
14 October 2000	Ekspres Travel Shoppe Official Opening at Sungai Buloh OBR	First travel and souvenir shop selling highway-related items
15 February 2001	Official opening of Putra Mahkota Interchange	5 lanes (including 2 TNG lanes)
17 May 2001	Official opening of the Ampang-Kuala Lumpur Elevated Highway (AKLEH)	Length : kilometres
10 June 2001	ELITE Fasttrack Speedzone Opening	First Go-Kart Track on Highway
16 June 2001	Ekspres Travel Shoppe at Tapah R&R Opening Ceremony	2nd E’Shoppe on NSE
12 July 2001	Official opening of the Kerinchi Link and Damansara Link on the Sprint Expressway	Length : kilometres
29 January 2002	PLUS Expressways incorporated in Malaysia as the Public Company	PLUS Expressways is a holding company with a single wholly-owned subsidiary, PLUS.
6 May 2002	Launch of Spectacular Advertising Board at Sungai Besi	Largest Advertising Board on Highway
13 July 2002	Brick ceremony of the Pendang Interchange	Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia
30 October 2002	Old Nilai Toll Plaza Closed	12 midnight
31 October 2002	New Nilai Interchange Opened	12:01 am To replace old Nilai Toll Plaza RM49.77 million Location: KM 283.5 12 lanes Menteri Besar of Negeri Sembilan Dato’ Seri Utama Tan Sri Hj Mohd Isa Dato’ Hj Abdul Samad
31 October 2002	Touch ‘n Go auto-reload facility relaunched
14 February 2003	The Southern Integrated Gateway (New CIQ complex and new bridge) in Johor Bahru is officially launched by the then Malaysian prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad.
March 2003	Official opening of the Kota Damansara Interchange	Alternative access to Kota Damansara and Mutiara Damansara
March 2003	The Jalan Kuching Toll Plaza was officially closed
1 September 2003	ELITE and Linkedua are now under PLUS Expressways Berhad
February 2004	The Jalan Cheras Toll Plaza was officially closed
March 2004	The Senai Toll Plaza was officially closed
22 April 2004	Official opening of the East Coast Expressway Phase 1 Karak - Kuantan	DYMM Sultan of Pahang Length : kilometres
May 2004	Official opening of the Penchala Link on the Sprint Expressway	Length : kilometres
1 July 2004	The electronic payment system, Touch 'n Go and Smart TAG, have been made compulsory in all expressways. Other EPS toll systems like FasTrak (Gamuda Expressway Networks) and SagaTag (Cheras - Kajang Expressway) were abolished
8 July 2004	Official opening of the Kajang Dispersal Link Expressway (SILK)	Length : kilometres
11 July 2004	Official opening of the New Pantai Expressway	Length : kilometres
13 August 2004	The Jalan Pahang Toll Plaza was officially closed
July 2005	Official opening of the Guthrie Corridor Expressway	Length : kilometres
September 2005	Official opening of the Butterworth Outer Ring Road	Length : kilometres
12 April 2006	Construction of the new Tanjung Puteri road bridge replacing the Malaysian side of causeway was cancelled	To avoid implication laws between two countries.
June 2006	Tapah RSA (both directions) in Perak is the first rest and service area in the Malaysian expressway to have wireless broadband internet facilities was launched
14 July 2006	Official opening of the Setia Alam Interchange and Shah Alam-Meru Highway	Alternative access to Setia Alam, Meru and Kapar
August 2006	The Malaysian federal government plans to build the Penang Second Bridge in the Ninth Malaysia Plan	To slove the congestion of the Penang Bridge.
18 October 2006	Official Opening of the Pendang Interchange	Alternative access to Pendang and Kota Sarang Semut
12 November 2006	The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Penang Second Bridge	Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
2 April 2007	Official Opening of the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) Traffic Management Centre (LLM TMC)	Minister of Works Dato' Seri S Samy Vellu
14 April 2007	Opening of the motorway tunnel sections for the Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART Tunnel)	3:00 pm Length : 4 kilometres To solve the problem of flash floods in Kuala Lumpur and also to reduce traffic jams along Jalan Sungai Besi and Yew flyover at Pudu during rush hour.
15 July 2007	The second part of the East Coast Expressway Phase 1, the Sri Jaya Interchange and Jabur Interchange was opened
August 2007	The completion of upgrading works on North-South Expressway including:- Jelapang-Ipoh South non-stop straight route, Rawang-Slim River six-lane carriageway, and Seremban-Ayer Keroh six-lane carriageway
September 2007	The construction of the Shah Alam-Kemuning Highway	14.7 kilometres Linking Shah Alam to Kota Kemuning
1 October 2007	The construction of the JB Eastern Dispersal Link	Length: 7 kilometres The new expressway linking Pandan Interchange on North-South Expressway to the new CIQ complex (Southern Integrated Gateway)
10 October 2007	Opening of the Pontian-Johor Bahru Parkway (Pontian Link)	Length 2.7 kilometres Linking Pulai Interchange to Ulu Choh-Gelang Patah Interchange
13 December 2007	Opening of the Kuala Lumpur-Putrajaya Expressway	Length: 42 kilometres The main backbone of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC)
Upcoming event January 2008	Opening of the Senai-Desaru Expressway Phase 1 Senai - Pasir Gudang	Length: -- kilometres
Upcoming event Early of 2008	Opening of the new CIQ Complex and short-term access (STA) temporary road (Southern Integrated Gateway) in Johor Bahru	the largest CIQ complex in Malaysia
Upcoming event June 2008	Opening of the Senai-Desaru Expressway Phase 2 Pasir Gudang - Desaru and Sungai Johor Bridge	Length: -- kilometres

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Chronology of Malaysian Expressway System events

See also