SMART Tunnel

The Kilometre Zero of the tunnel is located at Salak Interchange.^{[citation needed]}

In 2001 the Government sought proposals for a solution that would allow a typical flood of three to six hours' duration to occur without flooding the city centre.^[1] A tunnel that would allow floods to bypass the centre was one way of achieving this, providing it was coupled with temporary storage facilities to keep flows downstream of Kuala Lumpur within the capacity of the river channel. A group led by Gamuda engaged SSP, a large Malaysian consultant engineering firm, and Mott MacDonald UK to develop proposals for a tunnel with holding ponds at upstream and downstream ends of the tunnel.^{[citation needed]}

Construction of the tunnel began on 25 November 2003. Two Herrenknecht Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) from Germany were used, including Tuah on north side and Gemilang on south side. Gusztáv Klados was the senior project manager of the project.^[2]

On 11 December 2003, the 13.2-m diameter Mixshield TBM, Tuah, completed a 737-m section after 24 weeks of excavation. By the end of January 2004, Tuah would start a second drive covering a distance of 4.5 km to Kampung Berembang lake. The motorway sections on the SMART system was officially opened at 3:00PM, 14 May 2007, after multiple delays.^[3][4]

Meanwhile, the stormwater sections on the SMART system began operations at the end of January 2007.^{[citation needed]}

By 18 July 2010 the SMART system had prevented seven potentially disastrous flash floods in the city centre,^[5] having entered its first mode 3 operation only weeks after the opening of the motorway.^[6]

As of September 2020, the tunnel had activated its fourth mode for the seventh time. During the flash flood on 10 September 2020, the tunnel diverted three million cubic metres of water.^[7][8]

In December 2021, SMART entered Mode 4 for an eighth time, due to the massive flooding caused by heavy rainfall lasting from 16 to 18 December. Things would have been much worse in Kuala Lumpur had it not been for the tunnel, which successfully diverted 5 million cubic metres of flood water during the 22 hours it was on full activation.^[9]

In 2022, the government was considering the proposal to build another tunnel, briefly known as SMART 2, to cater for high density flood-prone area such as Shah Alam.^[10]

 

The first mode, under normal conditions where there is no storm, no flood water will be diverted into the system. When the second mode is activated, flood water is diverted into the bypass tunnel underneath the motorway tunnel. The motorway section is still open to traffic at this stage. When the third mode is in operation, the motorway will be closed to all traffic. After making sure all vehicles have exited the motorway, automated water-tight gates will be opened to allow flood waters to pass through. After the flood has ended, the tunnel is verified and cleaned via pressure-washing, and the motorway will be reopened to traffic within 48 hours of closure.^[11]

 

• Construction cost: RM1,887 million (US$514.6 million)
• Stormwater tunnel length: 9.7 km (6.0 mi)
• Diameter: 13.2 m (43.3 ft) (outer diameter)
• Tunnelling method: tunnel boring machine (TBM)
• TBM type: slurry shield

• Motorway tunnel length: 4 km (2.5 mi)
• Structure type: double deck
• Ingress and egress: 1.5 km (0.93 mi) at Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Imbi
• Length: 1.4 km (0.87 mi) at Jalan Tun Razak
• Links: 1.6 km (0.99 mi) at Kuala Lumpur–Seremban Expressway Links: City Centre near Kg. Pandan Roundabout KL–Seremban Expressway near Sungai Besi Airport

 

• World's First Dual-Function Tunnel (Stormwater Management & Road)
• Longest tunnel in Malaysia
• 9.7 km (6.03 miles) stormwater by-pass tunnel
• 4 km (2.49 miles) double-deck motorway within stormwater tunnel
• The motorway tunnel is suitable for light vehicles only. Motorcycles and heavy vehicles are not allowed
• Ingress and egress connections to the motorway tunnel linking the southern gateway to the city centre
• Holding basin complete with diversion and tunnel intake structures
• Storage reservoir and a twin-box culvert to release flood discharge
• State-of-the-art operations control room equipped with the latest systems in operations management, surveillance and maintenance of the SMART system.
• Custom-made fire engine units consisting of two modified Toyota Hilux pickup trucks, parked at two different locations for quick access to the tunnel in case of fire on both carriageways.^[12]

The SMART Tunnel utilizes an open toll system. Ever since its operation, all toll transactions at this toll plaza are carried out using Touch 'n Go cards, MyRFIDs or SmartTAGs. Cash payments are not accepted.

The entire expressway had its speed limit of 60 km/h.

Legend:

• I/C - interchange, I/S - intersection, RSA - Rest and service area, OBR - overhead bridge restaurant, L/B - layby, V/P - vista point, TN - tunnel, T/P - toll plaza, BR - bridge

km	Exit	Interchange	To	Remarks
SMART Tunnel 0			East–West Link Expressway East–West Link Expressway Southeast Cheras Northwest Petaling Jaya Shah Alam	Direction Y junctions
East–West Link Expressway Kuala Lumpur–Seremban Expressway ANIH Berhad border limit
SMART Tunnel   SMART Tunnel (Touch 'n Go and SmartTAG ETC only) SMART border limit
		SMART Tunnel operation office	TnG TAG   Customer Service Centre SMART Tunnel operation office	South bound on Cheras, Petaling Jaya and Shah Alam stretches only
SMART toll plaza				Accepts electronic toll payment (Touch 'n Go and SmartTAG only)
Motorway Tunnel Dry sections Start/end of tunnel Maximum height 2 m Speed limit 60 km/h
				From/to Motorway tunnel

km	Exit	Interchange	To	Remarks
			South   East–West Link Expressway Kuala Lumpur–Seremban Expressway   East–West Link Expressway Kompleks Sukan Negara   Shah Alam Expressway Klang   North–South Expressway Southern Route North–South Expressway Southern Route   North–South Expressway Central Link   AH2 Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA)     North–South Expressway Southern Route   AH2 Seremban   North–South Expressway Southern Route   AH2 Melaka   North–South Expressway Southern Route   AH2 Johor Bahru
East–West Link Expressway Kuala Lumpur–Seremban Expressway ANIH Berhad border limit
SMART Tunnel   SMART Tunnel (Touch 'n Go and SmartTAG ETC only) SMART border limit
SMART Tunnel 0
SMART toll plaza				Accepts electronic toll payment (Touch 'n Go and SmartTAG only)
Motorway Tunnel Dry sections Start/end of tunnel Maximum height 2 m Speed limit 60 km/h
				From/to Motorway tunnel

km	Exit	Interchange	To	Remarks
Motorway Tunnel Dry sections Start/end of tunnel Maximum height 2 m Speed limit 60 km/h
	3801	Motorway Tunnel Dry sections Tunnel exit south bound	3801A     SMART Tunnel Operation Office   East–West Link Expressway East–West Link Expressway   East–West Link Expressway Cheras   East–West Link Expressway Petaling Jaya   East–West Link Expressway Shah Alam 3801B   East–West Link Expressway Kuala Lumpur–Seremban Expressway   East–West Link Expressway Kompleks Sukan Negara   Shah Alam Expressway Klang   North–South Expressway Southern Route North–South Expressway Southern Route   North–South Expressway Central Link   AH2 Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA)     North–South Expressway Southern Route   AH2 Seremban   North–South Expressway Southern Route   AH2 Melaka   North–South Expressway Southern Route   AH2 Johor Bahru	Tunnel Interchange
Motorway Tunnel Conversion from dry to wet
		Motorway Tunnel Wet sections
Motorway Tunnel Conversion from wet to dry
	3802	Motorway Tunnel Dry sections Tunnel exit north bound	3802A Sultan Ismail Link Tunnel Jalan Davis Kuala Lumpur Inner Ring Road Jalan Imbi Jalan Sultan Ismail Jalan Bukit Bintang 3802B Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 1 Jalan Tun Razak (Jalan Pekeliling) Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) Ampang	Tunnel Interchange Lower floor
Motorway Tunnel Dry sections Start/end of tunnel Maximum height 2 m Speed limit 60 km/h
SMART Tunnel   SMART Tunnel Start/end of expressway (Touch 'n Go and SmartTAG ETC only) SMART border limit
Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 1 DBKL border limit
			North Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 1 Jalan Tun Razak (Jalan Pekeliling) Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) Ampang

km	Exit	Interchange	To	Remarks
	3802	Sultan Ismail link tunnel Dry sections Tunnel entry south bound	Motorway Tunnel   East–West Link Expressway Cheras   East–West Link Expressway Petaling Jaya   East–West Link Expressway Kompleks Sukan Negara   North–South Expressway Central Link   AH2 Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA)     North–South Expressway Southern Route   AH2 Seremban   North–South Expressway Southern Route   AH2 Melaka   North–South Expressway Southern Route   AH2 Johor Bahru	Tunnel Interchange Upper floor
Motorway Tunnel Dry sections Start/end of tunnel Maximum height 2 m Speed limit 60 km/h
SMART Tunnel   SMART Tunnel Start/end of expressway (Touch 'n Go and SmartTAG ETC only) SMART border limit
Jalan Davis DBKL border limit
			NorthWest Sultan Ismail–Kampung Pandan Link (Jalan Davis) Kuala Lumpur Inner Ring Road Jalan Imbi Jalan Sultan Ismail Jalan Bukit Bintang

The tunnel was featured in the below series:

• Season 4, Episode 2, of Extreme Engineering, titled "MegaTunnel", on the Discovery Channel.
• An episode of Truly Malaysia on the National Geographic Channel and TV1.
• Season 2, Episode 3, of Man Made Marvels, titled "Kuala Lumpur: Flood Control", on the Science Channel.
• Season 4, Episode 2, of Megastructures on the National Geographic Channel and TV1.
• Season 1, Episode 2 of Build It Bigger on the Science Channel.

• List of long tunnels by type

• SMART Tunnel
• Map of the SMART tunnel
• MMC Corporation Berhad
• Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia
• SMART Tunnel - Mott MacDonald Project Page