Ayer Itam Road is a major thoroughfare within the city of George Town in the

Malaysian state Malaysia is a federation of thirteen states and three federal territories, which form the primary administrative divisions of the country. Eleven states and two territories are part of Peninsular Malaysia, while two states and one territory ...

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

. It is one of the main roads leading out of the

city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...

towards the suburb of

Ayer Itam Ayer Itam is a suburb of George Town in the Malaysian state of Penang. Nested within the central valleys of Penang Island, it is located approximately southwest of the city centre. Etymology Ayer Itam got its name from the murky waters of th ...

History

A road connecting downtown George Town and

to the west has existed since 1790. This road facilitated the transportation of local agricultural produce, including

nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed, or the ground spice derived from the seed, of several tree species of the genus '' Myristica''; fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg ('' M. fragrans'') is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fru ...

and

pepper Pepper(s) may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plants ** Black pepper ** Long pepper ** Kampot pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanacea ...

, from the interior estates to the settlement's harbour. By 1900, a tram line along the road became operational. In the 1930s, the road was widened and street lighting was installed by 1938. Ayer Itam Road experiences significant congestion, especially during

rush hours A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English, Indian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice e ...

, attributed to the increase in car ownership. In response, the Penang state government has planned several infrastructural upgrades to reduce traffic congestion along this corridor. These include the construction of expressways and a monorail line as part of the

Penang Transport Master Plan The Penang Transport Master Plan ( ) is a strategic initiative developed by the Penang state government between 2012 and 2015, aimed at creating an integrated transportation system across the state. The multimodal plan, with an original estimated ...

Landmarks

* Suffolk House * Methodist Boys' School * Han Chiang University College *

Penang State Mosque The Penang State Mosque () is a Sunni Islam, Sunni State Government of Penang, state mosque located at Jalan Masjid Negeri (Green Lane) in George Town, Penang, George Town, Penang, Malaysia. History Construction of the mosque began on 1977 wit ...

* Chung Ling High School * Ayer Itam War Memorial Park

References

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History

Landmarks

See also

References