The Central Expressway (CTE) in Singapore is the major highway connecting the

city centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

of Singapore with the northern residential parts of the island, including Toa Payoh, Bishan and Ang Mo Kio and further onwards to the Seletar Expressway and the

Tampines Expressway The Tampines Expressway (TPE) is a highway in the north-eastern fringe of Singapore, joining the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) near Singapore Changi Airport in the east with the Central Expressway (CTE) and Seletar Expressway (SLE) in the nort ...

. As of 29 December 2013,

SLE Lupus, technically known as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Commo ...

and CTE are one of the two pairs of expressways in Singapore which are linked together, the other being the KPE and MCE.

Route description

Beginning at a junction with the

Ayer Rajah Expressway The Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) extends from the western end of the Marina Coastal Expressway in the south of Singapore to Tuas in the west near the Tuas Second Link to Malaysia. Together with the Marina Coastal Expressway and the East Coast ...

(AYE) in

Bukit Merah Bukit Merah, also known as Redhill, is a planning area and new town situated in the southernmost part of the Central Region of Singapore. the planning area borders Tanglin to the north, Queenstown to the west and the Downtown Core, Outram an ...

, the expressway runs northeast, passing through Outram and parallel to Chin Swee Road. The CTE then runs through two tunnels between Chin Swee Road and Bukit Timah Road, with an at-grade segment between Buyong Road and Cairnhill Circle, before continuing northeast, between Kallang and Novena. The expressway then turns north, intersecting the Pan Island Expressway (PIE) and passing through Toa Payoh, Bishan and Ang Mo Kio before terminating at an interchange with the Seletar Expressway (SLE) and

(TPE), and measures .

History

Construction

Work on the first phase of the CTE, between Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 and Thomson Road, commenced in July 1981. Intended to alleviate heavy traffic along Upper Thomson Road, a segment of the expressway between Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 and Jalan Toa Payoh opened in March 1983, while the segment of expressway between Jalan Toa Payoh and Thomson Road was opened in May 1985, In August 1985, construction commenced on a , S$18 million segment of the expressway in Ang Mo Kio. This segment of expressway was opened to traffic in January 1987, while the section between Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 and Yio Chu Kang Road was constructed between August 1986 and November 1988. The contract for the second phase of the CTE was awarded in December 1987. This phase, which comprised of expressway between Bukit Timah Road and Chin Swee Road, included two tunnels, with lengths of and , and involved the acquisition of land along Orchard Road and Clemenceau Avenue worth over S$20 million. Work on the second phase commenced in June 1987, and the tunnels were constructed using the cut-and-cover method. As the areas along the expressway's route were heavily built-up, precautions were taken to limit disruption to the public during construction, with the exclusive use of hydraulic piling machines and work near residential areas being paused at night. In addition, cofferdams were built in the Singapore River to facilitate construction of the expressway tunnels, and to prevent erosion, the river bed directly above the tunnels was covered with rocks. The segment of expressway between Outram Road and the Ayer Rajah Expressway opened in September 1988, but the construction of the tunnels was delayed, which the government attributed to a shortage of workers and "poor soil conditions near Cairnhill Circle". Construction on the CTE's second phase was completed in May 1991, and the opening of the two tunnels, which were named the Kampong Java and Chin Swee Tunnels, in September 1991 marked the completion of the expressway.

Impact and expansion

Traffic volumes along the CTE rose after the expressway was fully opened, and in May 1994, the section of expressway between Ang Mo Kio Avenue One and the PIE was expanded to eight lanes to ease traffic congestion. A traffic monitoring system, the Expressway Monitoring and Advisory System, was introduced on the expressway in March 1998. By the late 1990s, the CTE faced traffic congestion issues, and while a road pricing scheme was introduced to rectify the issue, it was unable to eliminate it. In 2008, a large-scale improvement of the CTE was initiated, and the first phase of the scheme, consisting of the expansion of the expressway between Ang Mo Kio Avenues One and Three, started in June 2008, and cost S$17 million. Subsequently, flyovers were constructed at the junction with the PIE to improve traffic flow, while other sections of the CTE, between Bukit Timah Road and Yio Chu Kang Road, were widened, and the improvement scheme was completed by December 2011. Central Expressway, Dec 05

Road interchanges

{, class="wikitable" , - ! scope="col" , Exit ! scope="col" , Destinations ! scope="col" , Notes , - , ,

(Jurong) , , - style="background: #ffdddd" , 1 , TPE (PIE - Changi Airport / KPE) , Northbound exit and southbound entrance only , -style="background: #ffdddd" , 1A , Jalan Bukit Merah , Northbound entrance and southbound exit only , - , 1B , Chin Swee Road, Tiong Bahru Road, Outram Road , , - , 2 , Clemenceau Avenue, Merchant Road, Havelock Road , , - style="background: #ffdddd" , 4 , Orchard Road , Northbound entrance and southbound exit only , - style="background: #ffdddd" , 5 , Cairnhill Circle , Northbound entrance and southbound exit only , - style="background: #ffdddd" , 6 , Bukit Timah Road, Cavenagh Road , Northbound entrance and southbound exit only , - , 7A , Moulmein Road , Signed as Exits 7D (Jalan Kebun Limau, Balestier Road) and 7C (Balestier Road, Moulmien Road) southbound , - style="background: #ffdddd" , 7B , Jalan Bahagia , Northbound exit only , - style="background: #ffdddd" , 8A , Pan Island Expressway (PIE) (Tuas) , Northbound entrance and southbound exit only , - , 8B , PIE ( Changi Airport), Upper Serangoon Road , , - , 10 , Braddell Road , , - , 11 , Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 , , - , 14 , Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 , Signed as Exits 12A (Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3) and 12B (Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5) northbound , - , 15 , Yio Chu Kang Road , , - style="background: #dff9f9" , 16 , Seletar West Link (Yishun Avenue 1), Seletar Expressway (SLE) , Northbound terminus; expressway continues as SLE

References

External links

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Traffic cameras monitoring the CTE

{{coord missing, Singapore Expressways in Singapore Road tunnels in Singapore Ang Mo Kio Bishan, Singapore Bukit Merah Downtown Core (Singapore) Kallang Novena, Singapore Sengkang Serangoon Toa Payoh Tunnels completed in 1989 Transport in North-East Region, Singapore