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 Bypass may refer to: * Bypass (road), a road that avoids a built-up area (not to be confused with passing lane) * Flood bypass of a river Science and technology Medicine * Bypass surgery, a class of surgeries including for example: ** Heart bypas ...

in Rawang,

Selangor Selangor (; ), also known by its Arabic language, 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 ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

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

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 optional ...

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 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 intersections and a fast lane-to-fast lane U-turn near its northern terminus for southbound traffic.

History

The Rawang Bypass FT37 project is a revival of the Kuala Lumpur Arah Serendah Expressway (KLAS), also known as the Kuala Lumpur–Rawang Expressway, 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 1998–1 ...

. 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 to Templer Park into a divided highway known as the Kuala Lumpur–Rawang Highway FT1, completed in 2007. The second stage was to build a completely new bypass route 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 elsew ...

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 The Ministry of Works ( ms, Kementerian Kerja Raya), abbreviated KKR, is a ministry of the Government of Malaysia that is responsible for public works, highway authority, construction industry, engineers, architects and quantity surveyors. Orga ...

. 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 is a ...

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

Background

History

Environmental issue

List of interchanges

References

See also