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

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

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. 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 Malaysian Federal Roads system, 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 syst ...

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 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 divided highway that runs from

Templer Park Templer Park () is a forest reserve in Rawang, Gombak District, Selangor, Malaysia. The 1,214-hectare forest reserve was named after Sir Gerald Templer, a British High Commissioner in Malaya. "On 8 September 1954, His Highness the Sultan of Sel ...

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 , making it the second highest roadway viaduct in Malaysia after the

Jalan Bukit Kukus Paired Road The Jalan Bukit Kukus Paired Road is a dual carriageway in the city of George Town, Penang, George Town within the States and federal territories of Malaysia, Malaysian state of Penang. The municipally-funded road stretches across the valleys at ...

Penang Island Penang Island is the main constituent island of the Malaysian state of Penang. It is located off the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Malacca Strait, with the Penang Strait separating the island from Seberang Perai on the mainla ...

. 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

interchange Interchange may refer to: Transport * Interchange (road), a collection of ramps, exits, and entrances between two or more highways * Interchange (freight rail), the transfer of freight cars between railroad companies * Interchange station, a rai ...

s exist, with about three stub LILO 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 U, letter U. In some areas, the maneuver is illegal, while in others, it is treated as ...

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 1997 Asian financial crisis gripped much of East Asia, East and Southeast Asia during the late 1990s. The crisis began in Thailand in July 1997 before spreading to several other countries with a ripple effect, raising fears of a worldwide eco ...

. 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 divided highway. 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 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, to improve road safety and as replacement ...

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 only 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 foun ...

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), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

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 (plural: hoaxes) is a widely publicised falsehood created to deceive its audience with false and often astonishing information, with the either malicious or humorous intent of causing shock and interest in as many people as possible. S ...

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 (; Jawi: ) is the federal government department in Malaysia under Ministry of Works Malaysia (MOW) which is responsible for construction and maintenance of public infrastructure in West Malaysia and Labu ...

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

Background

History

Environmental issue

List of interchanges

References

See also