SMART Tunnel

The "Stormwater Management And Road Tunnel" or "SMART Tunnel", is a storm drainage and road structure in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and a major national project in the country. The 9.7 km (6.0 mi) tunnel is the longest stormwater tunnel in South East Asia and second longest in Asia.

The main objective of this tunnel is to solve the problem of flash floods in Kuala Lumpur and also to reduce traffic jams along Jalan Sungai Besi and Loke Yew flyover at Pudu during rush hour. There are two components of this tunnel, the stormwater tunnel and motorway tunnel. It is the longest multi-purpose tunnel in the world.

In 2011, the SMART tunnel received the UN Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for its innovative and unique management of storm water and peak hour traffic.

It begins at Kampung Berembang lake near Klang River at Ampang and ends at Taman Desa lake near Kerayong River at Salak South. The project is led by the government, including Malaysian Highway Authority (Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia = LLM) and the Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia (Jabatan Pengairan dan Saliran = JPS) and also a company joint venture pact between Gamuda Berhad and Malaysian Mining Corporation Berhad (MMC).

Route background

The Kilometre Zero of the tunnel starts at Salak Interchange.

History

In 2001 the Government sought proposals for a solution that would allow a typical flood of three to six hours’ duration to occur without flooding the city centre. A tunnel that would allow floods to bypass the centre was one way of achieving this, providing it was coupled with temporary storage facilities to keep flows downstream of Kuala Lumpur within the capacity of the river channel. A group led by Gamuda engaged SSP, a large Malaysian consultant engineering firm, and Mott MacDonald UK to develop proposals for a tunnel with holding ponds at upstream and downstream ends of the tunnel.

Construction of the tunnel began in 25 November 2003. Two Herrenknecht Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) from Germany were used, including "Tuah" on north side and "Gemilang" on south side. Gusztáv Klados was the senior project manager of the project.

On 11 December 2003, the 13.2 m diameter Mixshield TBM, Tuah, completed a 737 m section after 24 weeks of excavation. By the end of January 2004, Tuah would start a second drive covering a distance of 4.5 km to Kampung Berembang lake. The motorway sections on the SMART system was officially opened at 3:00PM, 14 May 2007, after multiple delays.

Meanwhile, the stormwater sections on the SMART system began operations at the end of January 2007.

By 18 July 2010 the SMART system had prevented seven potentially disastrous flash floods in the city centre, having entered its first mode 3 operation only weeks after the opening of the motorway.

How the SMART Tunnel works

The first mode, under normal conditions where there is no storm, no flood water will be diverted into the system. When the second mode is activated, flood water is diverted into the bypass tunnel underneath the motorway tunnel. The motorway section is still open to traffic at this stage. When the third mode is in operation, the motorway will be closed to all traffic. After making sure all vehicles have exited the motorway, automated water-tight gates will be opened to allow flood waters to pass through. The motorway will be reopened to traffic within 48 hours of closure.

Technical specifications

The north bound entrance of SMART Tunnel on the Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Expressway.

Stormwater tunnel

• Construction cost: RM1,887 million (US$514.6 million)
• Stormwater tunnel length: 9.7 km (6.0 mi)
• Diameter: 13.2 m (43.3 ft) (outer diameter)
• Tunnelling method: Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM)
• TBM type: Slurry shield

Motorway tunnel

• Motorway tunnel length: 4 km (2.5 mi)
• Structure type: Double Deck
• Ingress and egress: 1.5 km (0.93 mi) at Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Imbi
• Length: 1.4 km (0.87 mi) at Jalan Tun Razak
• Links: 1.6 km (0.99 mi) at Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Expressway Links: City Centre near Kg. Pandan Roundabout KL-Seremban Expressway near Sungai Besi Airport

Features

• Longest tunnel in Malaysia.
• 9.7 km (6.03 miles) stormwater by-pass tunnel.
• 4 km (2.49 miles) double-deck motorway within stormwater tunnel.
• The motorway tunnel is suitable for light vehicles only. Motorcycles and heavy vehicles are not allowed.
• Ingress and egress connections to the motorway tunnel linking the southern gateway to the city centre.
• Holding basin complete with diversion and tunnel intake structures.
• Storage reservoir and a twin-box culvert to release flood discharge.
• State-of-the-art operations control room equipped with the latest systems in operations management, surveillance and maintenance of the SMART system.
• Custom-made fire engine units consisting of two modified Toyota Hiluxes, parked at two different locations for quick access to the tunnel in case of fire on both carriageways.

Tolls

The SMART Tunnel motorway using opened toll systems.

SMART Tunnel toll plaza has now fully Electronic Toll Collections (ETC)

As part of an initiative to facilitate faster transaction at the SMART Tunnel Toll Plaza, all toll transactions at this toll plaza on the SMART Tunnel has now conducted electronically via Touch 'n Go cards or SmartTAGs starting 9 September 2015.

Toll rates

(Starting 15 October 2015)

Class	Type of vehicles	Rate (in Malaysian ringgit (RM))	Notes
1	Private Cars (Vehicles with two axles and three or four wheels (excluding taxis))	RM 3.00
4	Taxis	RM 3.00	Toll charges are paid by passengers using Touch 'n Go only.

Note: Toll charges can only be paid with the Touch 'n Go cards or SmartTAG. Cash payment is not accepted.

FM radio channels available in the tunnel

Radio	Frequencies
Nasional FM	87.7 MHz
KL FM	97.2 MHz
Radio Klasik FM	95.3 MHz
Hot FM	97.6 MHz
Fly FM	95.8 MHz
hitz.fm	92.9 MHz
Traxx FM	90.3 MHz
BFM 89.9	89.9 MHz

List of interchanges

The entire expressway had its speed limit of 60 km/h.

Legend:

• I/C - interchange, I/S - intersection, RSA - Rest and service area, OBR - overhead bridge restaurant, L/B - layby, V/P - vista point, TN - tunnel, T/P - toll plaza, BR - bridge

From/to East-West Link Expressway

km	Exit	Interchange	To	Remarks
0			East-West Link Expressway SouthEast Cheras Northwest Petaling Jaya Shah Alam	Direction Y junctions
Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Expressway ANIH Berhad border limit
30px SMART Tunnel (TnG and TAG ETC only) SMART border limit
		30px SMART Tunnel operation office	TnG TAG Customer Service Centre SMART Tunnel operation office	South bound on Cheras, Petaling Jaya and Shah Alam stretches only
30px SMART toll plaza SMART RM (Cash) TnG TAG TAG TnG RM (Cash) Open toll system Pay toll (Accepts electronic toll payment (TnG and TAG) only)
Motorway Tunnel Dry sections Start/End of tunnel Maximum height 2 m Speed limit 60 km/h
				From/To Motorway tunnel

From/to Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Expressway

km	Exit	Interchange	To	Remarks
			South Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Expressway Kompleks Sukan Negara Klang North-South Expressway Southern Route Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Seremban Melaka Johor Bahru
Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Expressway ANIH Berhad border limit
30px SMART Tunnel (TnG and TAG ETC only) SMART border limit
0
30px SMART toll plaza SMART RM (Cash) TnG TAG TAG TnG RM (Cash) Open toll system Pay toll (Accepts electronic toll payment (TnG and TAG) only)
Motorway Tunnel Dry sections Start/End of tunnel Maximum height 2 m Speed limit 60 km/h
				From/To Motorway tunnel

Motorway tunnel

km	Exit	Interchange	To	Remarks
Motorway Tunnel Dry sections Start/End of tunnel Maximum height 2 m Speed limit 60 km/h
	EXIT 3801	Motorway Tunnel Dry sections Tunnel exit south bound	EXIT 3801A 30px SMART Tunnel Operation Office East-West Link Expressway Cheras Petaling Jaya Shah Alam EXIT 3801B Kuala Lumpur-Seremban Expressway Kompleks Sukan Negara Klang North-South Expressway Southern Route Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Seremban Melaka Johor Bahru	Tunnel Interchange
Motorway Tunnel Dry sections
Motorway Tunnel Water gate boundary
Motorway Tunnel Wet sections
		Motorway Tunnel Wet sections
Motorway Tunnel Wet sections
Motorway Tunnel Water gate boundary
Motorway Tunnel Dry sections
	EXIT 3802	Motorway Tunnel Dry sections Tunnel exit north bound	EXIT 3802A Sultan Ismail Link Tunnel Jalan Davis Kuala Lumpur Inner Ring Road Jalan Imbi Jalan Sultan Ismail Jalan Bukit Bintang EXIT 3802B Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 1 Jalan Tun Razak (Jalan Pekeliling) Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) Ampang	Tunnel Interchange Lower floor
Motorway Tunnel Dry sections Start/End of tunnel Maximum height 2 m Speed limit 60 km/h
30px SMART Tunnel Start/End of expressway (TnG and TAG ETC only) SMART border limit
Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 1 DBKL border limit
			North Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 1 Jalan Tun Razak (Jalan Pekeliling) Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) Ampang

Sultan Ismail link tunnel

km	Exit	Interchange	To	Remarks
	EXIT 3802	Sultan Ismail link tunnel Dry sections Tunnel entry south bound	Motorway Tunnel Cheras Petaling Jaya Kompleks Sukan Negara Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Seremban Melaka Johor Bahru	Tunnel Interchange Upper floor
Motorway Tunnel Dry sections Start/End of tunnel Maximum height 2 m Speed limit 60 km/h
30px SMART Tunnel Start/End of expressway (TnG and TAG ETC only) SMART border limit
Jalan DAVIS DBKL border limit
			NorthWest Sultan Ismail-Kampung Pandan Link (Jalan Davis) Kuala Lumpur Inner Ring Road Jalan Imbi Jalan Sultan Ismail Jalan Bukit Bintang

Tunnel in popular culture

• The SMART Tunnel was featured in an episode of Extreme Engineering on the Discovery Channel.
• The SMART Tunnel was featured in an episode of Truly Malaysia on the National Geographic Channel and TV1.
• The SMART Tunnel was featured in an episode of Man Made Marvels on the Science Channel.
• The SMART Tunnel was featured in an episode of Megastructures on the National Geographic Channel and TV1.
• The SMART Tunnel was featured in episode 2, Season 1, of Build It Bigger on the Science Channel.

See also

• List of long tunnels by type

External links

• SMART Tunnel
• MMC Corporation Berhad
• Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia
• SMART Tunnel - Mott MacDonald Project Page