Rawang Bypass, Federal Route 37 also known as Rawang–Serendah Highway, is a federally-funded

divided highway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

bypass in Rawang,

Selangor Selangor (; ), also known by its Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 Malaysian states. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east, Negeri Sem ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

. The 10-km highway was opened to traffic on 28 November 2017 at 9.00 pm. Construction of the RM628mil Rawang Bypass began on 16 July 2005 and was completed on 21 November 2017. It features a 2.7-km elevated viaduct with its highest pillar of 58.2 meters. The Rawang Bypass FT37 was built to solve the traffic congestion along the

Malaysia Federal Route 1 The Federal Route 1 is the first federal road in Malaysia, the oldest federal road in Malaysia, and among the nation's earliest public roadways ever constructed. The Federal Route 1 was the backbone of the road system in the western states of Peni ...

in the town centre of Rawang. It was reported that the travelling time from

Serendah Serendah is a town and mukim in Hulu Selangor District, Selangor, Malaysia. It is 26 km north of Kuala Lumpur. History The area developed due to the tin mines. One of the popular tourist spot in Serendah iPerigi Tujuh Serendah It was built to r ...

Selayang Selayang is a town in Gombak District, Selangor, Malaysia. Location Selayang is located on the main route to Rawang through Jalan Ipoh, and this route is connected to Jalan Kuching as main Rawang-Kuala Lumpur route. It is also an option ...

via the Kuala Lumpur–Ipoh Road FT1 may take up to 2 hours due to severe congestion in Rawang town centre. The Rawang Bypass FT37 helps to reduce the travelling time to only 30 minutes.

Background

The Rawang Bypass FT37 is a 9-km

that runs from

Templer Park Templer Park ( ms, Hutan Lipur Templer) is a forest reserve in Rawang, Gombak District, Selangor, Malaysia. It is 1,214 hectares in size and it was named in honour of Sir Gerald Templer, a British High Commissioner in Malaya. "On 8 September 19 ...

to Serendah. It continues from

Kuala Lumpur–Rawang Highway Kuala Lumpur–Rawang Highway, Federal Route 1, also known as Jalan Kuching and Jalan Ipoh, is a major highway in Klang Valley region, Malaysia. History The most controversial development of the FT1 highway in Kuala Lumpur was the toll collection ...

FT1, where the FT1 highway is diverted to Rawang, before ascending uphill via a 2.7-km viaduct with the gradient of 5.8%. The Rawang Bypass viaduct has its highest pillar at the height of 58.2 m, making it the second highest roadway viaduct in Malaysia. The remaining 6.3-km section is built at ground level. The Rawang Bypass FT37 ends at Kuala Lumpur—Ipoh Road FT1 near Serendah via a trumpet interchange. Along the FT37 highway, only two interchanges exist, with about three stub

LILO Lilo or LILO may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Lilo (name), a list of people with the nickname or surname * Lilo (footballer), Brazilian footballer Murilo Rufino Barbosa (born 1983) * Lilo (actress), stage name of German-born French actress and si ...

intersections and a fast lane-to-fast lane

U-turn A U-turn in driving refers to performing a 180° rotation to reverse the direction of travel. It is called a "U-turn" because the maneuver looks like the letter U. In some areas, the maneuver is illegal, while in others, it is treated as a ...

near its northern terminus for southbound traffic.

History

The Rawang Bypass FT37 project is a revival of the

Kuala Lumpur Arah Serendah Expressway Rawang Bypass, Federal Route 37 also known as Rawang–Serendah Highway, is a federally-funded divided highway bypass in Rawang, Selangor, Malaysia. The 10-km highway was opened to traffic on 28 November 2017 at 9.00 pm. Construction of the ...

(KLAS), also known as the

Kuala Lumpur–Rawang Expressway Kuala is a town and administrative district of Langkat Regency in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. It borders Selesai to the north, Salapian to the west, and Sei Bingai to the south and east. Most people in Kuala are Javanese people, with a signif ...

, which was scrapped due to the effect of the

1997 Asian financial crisis The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998– ...

. The project was initially supposed to be constructed as a controlled-access expressway that would run along the Federal Route 1 corridor, with LeKLAS Sdn. Bhd. being appointed as its concessionaire and constructor. The project was revived by the federal government in 2005 as the Rawang Bypass project due to severe traffic congestion in Rawang. However, the Rawang Bypass project was constructed not as a controlled-access toll expressway but rather as a limited-access

. The contract of the RM628 million highway construction job was awarded to Syarikat Panzana Enterprise Sdn. Bhd. Construction of the Rawang Bypass FT37 commenced on 16 July 2005. Construction of the Rawang Bypass project was divided into two stages. The first stage was to upgrade the existing the 12.5-km two-lane Kuala Lumpur–Ipoh Road FT1 from

Bandar Baru Selayang Selayang Newtown is the capital of Gombak District, Selangor, Malaysia. The capital moved from Rawang, Selangor, Rawang to Selayang Newtown in 1997. The capital is named after Selayang, a town located 2 km southeast of Selayang Newtown. Sela ...

to Templer Park into a divided highway known as the

FT1, completed in 2007. The second stage was to build a completely new

bypass route A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety. A bypass spe ...

that diverts the through traffic away from the town centre of Rawang.

Environmental issue

The construction of the second stage took a longer time due to environmental concern towards the project. Initially, the planned route was longer, would be built completely on ground level and might run through the Selangor State Heritage Park and

. Due to protests from environmentalists and pressure from local residents who insisted on going ahead with the project despite possible environmental issues, the route was realigned and redesigned, and a 2.7-km viaduct was constructed along the border of the Selangor State Heritage Park to minimize the negative impact towards the critically endangered Giam Kanching trees which is an

endemic species Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

and can only be found nowhere else but in the heritage park.Media Statement of the opening of Rawang Bypass
- from the Malaysian Ministry of Works. Accessed on 29 November 2017. Through the viaduct construction approach, the affected forest area was reduced from 65

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre i ...

s to only 24 hectares. The Rawang Bypass FT37 was completed on 21 November 2017, after 12 years of construction. Due to the very long construction period, a

hoax A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...

claiming the opening ceremony of the Rawang Bypass FT37 to be held on 15 November 2017 went viral through social media on 13 November 2017, which was denied by the

Malaysian Public Works Department The Malaysian Public Works Department (JKR; ms, Jabatan Kerja Raya Malaysia) is the federal government department in Malaysia under Ministry of Works Malaysia (MOW) which is responsible for construction and maintenance of public infrastructure ...

. Instead, the actual opening ceremony was held on 28 November 2017.

Background

History

Environmental issue

List of interchanges

References

See also