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

of Singapore with the northern residential parts of the island, including

Toa Payoh Toa Payoh ( or , , ) is a Planning areas of Singapore, planning area and New towns of Singapore, mature residential town located in the northern part of the Central Region, Singapore, Central Region of Singapore. Toa Payoh planning area borde ...

, Bishan and

Ang Mo Kio Ang Mo Kio () is a planning area and residential town situated in the Central Region of Singapore. Located approximately north of the Downtown Core district, Ang Mo Kio is the 4th most populated planning area in the North-East region and ra ...

and further onwards to the

Seletar Expressway The Seletar Expressway (Abbreviation: SLE) is a highway in Singapore that traverses the northern end of the island and joins the Central Expressway (CTE) and the Tampines Expressway (TPE) in Seletar to the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) in Kranji ...

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, Singapore, Central Expressway (CTE) and Seletar Ex ...

. As of 29 December 2013,

SLE Lupus, formally called 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. Common ...

and CTE are one of the two pairs of

expressways in Singapore The expressways of Singapore are a system of controlled-access highways in Singapore that allow motorists to travel quickly from one urban area to another. Construction of the system was authorised when construction of the Pan Island Expres ...

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 (MCE) in the south of Singapore to Tuas in the west near the Tuas Second Link to Malaysia. Together with the MCE and the East Coast Parkway (ECP) ...

(AYE) in

Bukit Merah Bukit Merah, also known as Redhill, is a Planning Areas of Singapore, planning area and New towns of Singapore, new town situated in the southernmost part of the Central Region, Singapore, Central Region of Singapore. The planning area borders T ...

, 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 The Pan Island Expressway (Abbreviated as: PIE) is the oldest and longest expressway in Singapore. It is also Singapore's longest road. The expressway runs from the East Coast Parkway near Changi Airport in the east to Tuas in the west and ...

(PIE) and passing through

, Bishan and

before terminating at an interchange with the

(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 on 18 May 1985 by MP for

Moulmein Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; ; , ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' southeast of Yangon and south of Thaton, at the mouth of Thanlwin (Salween) River. Mawlamyine was an ancien ...

Lawrence Sia Lawrence Sia Khoon Seong (born 10 November 1932) is a former Singaporean teacher, trade unionist and politician. Sia was the president of the Singapore Teachers' Union from 1971, before being expelled in 2003. He also served as Member of Parl ...

. 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 Bukit Timah Road (; ; ) is a major road in Singapore extending from the city centre to Woodlands Road on the way to Johor Bahru in Malaysia. The road's 25-km (15.5 miles) length makes it one of the longest roads in Singapore, and the road takes i ...

and Chin Swee Road, included two tunnels, with lengths of and , and involved the acquisition of land along

Orchard Road Orchard Road, often known colloquially as simply Orchard, is a major -long road in the Central Area, Singapore, Central Area of Singapore. A famous tourist attraction, it is an upscale shopping area, with numerous internationally renowned de ...

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 A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two Portal (architecture), portals common at each end, though ther ...

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 The Singapore River is a river that flows parallel to Alexandra Road and feeds into the Marina Reservoir in the southern part of Singapore. The immediate upper drainage basin, watershed of the Singapore River is known as the Singapore River Plann ...

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 1 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 1 and 3, 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.

List of interchanges and exits

, rowspan=1, Outram , colspan="1" style="text-align: right", 2 , colspan="1" style="text-align: right", 1.2 , colspan="4" style="text-align: center" , ''Southern Portal of Chin Swee Tunnel'' , rowspan=2,

Orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

, colspan="1" style="text-align: right", 3.8 , colspan="1" style="text-align: right", 2.4 , colspan="4" style="text-align: center" , ''Northern Portal of Chin Swee Tunnel'' , rowspan=2,

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: People * Newton (surname), including a list of people with the surname * ...

, colspan="1" style="text-align: right", 4.4 , colspan="1" style="text-align: right", 2.7 , colspan="4" style="text-align: center" , ''Southern Portal of Kampong Java Tunnel'' , rowspan=6,

Novena A novena (from , "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks. The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost, when the ...

, colspan="1" style="text-align: right", 5.2 , colspan="1" style="text-align: right", 3.2 , colspan="4" style="text-align: center" , ''Northern Portal of Kampong Java Tunnel''

References

External links

*
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