The East Coast Parkway (

Abbreviation An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

: ECP) is an

expressway Expressway may refer to: * Controlled-access highway, the highest-grade type of highway with access ramps, lane markings, etc., for high-speed traffic. * Limited-access road, a lower grade of highway or arterial road. *Expressway, the fictional s ...

that runs along the southeastern coast of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. The expressway is approximately in length, and connects

Singapore Changi Airport Singapore Changi Airport, commonly known as Changi Airport , is a major civilian international airport that serves Singapore, and is one of the largest transportation hubs in Asia. As one of the world's busiest airports by international passe ...

in the east to the

Benjamin Sheares Bridge The Benjamin Sheares Bridge (; ms, Jambatan Benjamin Sheares; ta, பென்ஜமின் ஷியர்ஸ் பாலம்) is the longest bridge in Singapore, spanning 1.8 km, and the tallest, at . It is named after Benjamin Sheares ...

, in the south of the main island. It also connects to the

Marina Coastal Expressway The Marina Coastal Expressway ( Abbreviation: MCE) is the tenth of Singapore's network of expressways. Construction for the MCE began in 2008 and was completed at the end of 2013. The expressway was officially opened on 28 December that year by ...

and has an interchange with 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 ha ...

at the Changi Flyover, about from the eastern end of the expressway. As of July 2022, it is the third-longest expressway in Singapore. Unlike other

expressways in Singapore The expressways of Singapore are special roads that allow motorists to travel quickly from one urban area to another. Construction of the system was authorized when construction of the Pan Island Expressway began in 1962. All of them are dual ...

whose abbreviation ends with 'E' for 'Expressway', the East Coast Parkway abbreviation ends with 'P' instead. The East Coast Parkway used to be directly connected to the

AYE Aye or AYE may refer to: * Aye (yes), a word for expressing the affirmative * Aye (village), a village in Belgium * ''Aye'' (album), by Martyn Bennett, 2012 * "Aye" (song), by Davido, 2014 Abbreviations and acronyms * Africa's Young Entreprene ...

. However, with the opening of the MCE on 29 December 2013, a section of expressway after the Benjamin Sheares Bridge was truncated and another section at the Marina South area realigned and converted into an arterial road. The expressway, together with the MCE and the

could be interpreted as the southern east-west road in Singapore. The expressway first heads southeast from

Changi Airport Singapore Changi Airport, commonly known as Changi Airport , is a major civilian international airport that serves Singapore, and is one of the largest transportation hubs in Asia. As one of the world's busiest airports by international passen ...

before curving to follow the coastline after Xilin Avenue. It then follows

East Coast Park East Coast Park is a beach and a park encompassing Marine Parade, Bedok and Tampines, along the southeastern coast of Singapore. It was opened in the 1970s, after the Singapore government had completed reclaiming land off the coast at Katon ...

past Upper East Coast,

Siglap Siglap is a neighbourhood located in Bedok in the East Region of Singapore. The area also encompasses the Frankel and Opera Estates and their names have sometimes been used interchangeably to refer to the approximate same area. The planning su ...

Marine Parade Marine Parade is a planning area and residential estate located in the Central Region of Singapore. Straddling the tip of the southeastern coast of Pulau Ujong, Marine Parade serves as a buffer between the Central and East regions of the c ...

and Mountbatten areas. After Exit 13 for Fort Road (signed 14A eastbound), the ECP curves further inland passing through the interchange with the MCE and KPE before the

which offers a beautiful view of the downtown. The highway (still on the bridge) curves south and into the Marina Bay Area, passing

Marina Bay Sands Marina Bay Sands (abbreviation: MBS) is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay in Singapore. The resort is owned by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation and at its opening in 2010, it was deemed the world's most expensive standalone casino prop ...

.The ECP then ends near the 16-kilometre mark and turns into Shears Avenue (newly formed out of part of the truncated section of the former route). From here, drivers can choose to either turn left on Marina Boulevard towards

Gardens by the Bay The Gardens by the Bay is a nature park spanning in the Central Region of Singapore, adjacent to the Marina Reservoir. The park consists of three waterfront gardens: Bay South Garden (in Marina South), Bay East Garden (in Marina East) and Ba ...

and the

Marina Bay Cruise Centre The Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore (also known as the International Cruise Terminal and abbreviated as MBCCS) is a cruise terminal in Singapore, located at Marina South. The construction of the S$500 million terminal began in October 2009 and ...

, or choose to turn right on Central Boulevard towards the

Downtown Core The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with many integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive build ...

and

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

History

Plans for the coastal highway to reduce congestion at Golden Mile started on 30 July 1969. Detailed plans were put in place to create interchanges at Nicoll Highway, Bras Basah Road and Stamford Road. On 3 September 1970, a $35 million plan was put in place to reclaim more land off of Bedok, with the final phase starting on 7 October 1970. On 18 December 1970, the government decided to reclaim more than 125 acres of land. On 24 May 1973, the government proceeded to build a $300 million highway across the harbour to the breakwater line outside Clifford Pier to ease peak hour congestion at the Collyer Quay area. The plans involved the reclamation of land off Nicoll Highway and the breakwater at Clifford Pier. Reclamation was expected to begin in six to nine months. The 280m long bridge was to be built at a height of 30 ft above high water level to allow ample headroom for ferries to use the channel. The new highway would turn landwards to South Quay and then to the vacant piece of land past the Singapore Polytechnic, before turning towards Anson Road. To provide space for construction work, the government acquired the former

Singapore Polytechnic Singapore Polytechnic (SP) is a post-secondary education institution and statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of Education in Singapore. Established in 1954, the institution is the first and oldest polytechnic in Singapore and is ...

site in 1975, with the polytechnic shifting to Dover. Plans were made on 16 January 1974 to extend Siglap Road to the expressway. On 28 February 1974, the government also acquired two portions of land, for the extension of Bedok South Avenue 1 from Upper East Coast Road to the ECP. On 12 June 1974, tenders were invited for the construction of the super-highway which would link the east coast of Singapore to the city. The extension of East Coast Parkway was to run from Tanjong Rhu via the Kallang River to Marina Centre. Between the two crossings, the expressway would be connected to an interchange formed by a one-way pair of roads running on the reclaimed Marina Centre, connecting Ophir and Rochor Roads at Beach Road. It would take traffic to Orchard, Chinatown and Little India. It would also run through the reclaimed land in front of Shenton Way and Raffles Quay, before going to the Telok Ayer Basin at South Quay, where it would connect to the one-way pair of roads at Prince Edward Road and Maxwell Road. It was planned to run on the elevated structure across the former Singapore Polytechnic at Shenton Way. A separate project was planned to even extend the expressway to Keppel Road, before going towards the Jurong Expressway (to be known as Ayer Rajah Expressway). On 24 April 1975, five international firms were invited to the tender of the construction of East Coast Parkway, leading to the construction of

. The expressway would also be linked to Ophir/Rochor Road, which would be built together with the flyover. The first phase would cover the portion from Tanjong Rhu Flyover to South Quay, while another section would lead from South Quay to Shenton Way. Construction of the first phase of the East Coast Parkway from Fort Road to Marine Parade started in 1971 and was completed in December 1975. It was followed by an extension of Phase 2 which was completed in November 1975 to Bedok South Road and then Phase 3 was built together with Changi Airport in 1980. Construction of Phase 3 began in May 1976, with two interchanges at Xilin Avenue and the

. It was expected to be completed by 1978. They were built on reclaimed land by the former

Public Works Department This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

. Construction of Phase 4, stretching from Fort Road to Keppel Road began in 1977 and was opened on 18 April 1981 to Ophir Road, and on 26 September 1981 towards Keppel Road. Shipyards had certain hours of restriction to navigation but the berths down should have no cause to worry . They could implement any expansion programme of their shipyards, which was awarded to Sato Kogyo, and was expected to be completed by the end of 1980. The government had decided to further reclaim the Marina South area, linking Tanjong Rhu and Telok Ayer Basin. Traffic lights remained on the expressway until the completion of the last flyover at Fort Road in 1989. The opening of ECP relieved the traffic load of the city area in the 1980s. Traffic volume at Nicoll Highway decreased by 20 per cent, which would otherwise worsen with the new ERP gantries. Robinson Road and Cecil Street were better managed with lesser traffic jams with the declining load all the way to 1990s. Flanked by

on one side and high-rise housing on the other, the well-

landscaped Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

expressway was built and maintained with the conscious intention of giving visitors arriving via Singapore Changi Airport a good first impression of the country as they commute from the airport to the city centre in less than 15 minutes on a good day. Traffic congestion during the morning peak hours, however, led to the introduction of an

Electronic Road Pricing The Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system is an electronic toll collection scheme adopted in Singapore to manage traffic by way of road pricing, and as a usage-based taxation mechanism to complement the purchase-based Certificate of Entitleme ...

(ERP) gantry near the Tanjong Rhu Flyover in the direction towards the city, one of the first two gantries to be set up in the country, which came into operation on 1 April 1998 together with the other gantry at Ophir Road. A decommissioned emergency

highway strip A highway strip, road runway or road base is a section of a highway, motorway or other form of public road that is specially built to act as a runway for (mostly) military aircraft and to serve as an auxiliary military air base. These runways a ...

was built in the long, straight section of the ECP close to Changi Airport. This section can be easily identified by removable potted plants instead of the standard large trees on the median strip. However, the highway strip has never been used for emergency landing purposes. To facilitate the development of the new downtown, the ECP was truncated after the

, with the stretch at

Marina South Marina South is a planning area located within the Central Area of the Central Region of Singapore. It is largely home to Gardens by the Bay as well as the Marina Barrage. The name has also been used to refer to the larger peninsula the plannin ...

area realigned and converted to a major arterial road called Sheares Avenue.Government Approves the Construction of MCE
",

Land Transport Authority The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Transport of the Government of Singapore. History Incorporation of Land Transport Authority Land Transport Authority (LTA) was established on 1 September 1995, f ...

, 27 July 2007 Instead, a new expressway, the

, was built to connect the ECP and the

Kallang–Paya Lebar Expressway The Kallang–Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) is the third newest of Singapore's network of expressways. The southern (Kallang) section of the expressway opened first, on 26 October 2007, with the remaining (Paya Lebar) section opened on 20 Septembe ...

to the Ayer Rajah Expressway.

List of exits

{, class="wikitable" , - ! scope="col" , Exit ! scope="col" , Destinations ! scope="col" , Remarks , - style="background: #dff9f9" , 1 , PIE (Tuas), TPE (SLE) , Eastbound terminus; continues east as Airport Boulevard , - , 2A , Tanah Merah Coast Road, Changi Village , , - style="background: #ffdddd" , 2B , Xilin Avenue, Simei Avenue,

Tampines Tampines () is the regional centre of the East Region of Singapore. With a population of 265,340 living across its five subzones, it is the second-most populous planning area in Singapore, according to the DOS Population Trends 2022. It is h ...

, Eastbound exit and westbound entrance only , - style="background: #ffdddd" , - ,

Carpark H , Westbound exit and entrance only , - style="background: #ffdddd" , - , East Coast Park Carpark F3 , Westbound exit and entrance only , - style="background: #ffdddd" , 6 , Bayshore Road , Eastbound exit and entrance only , - , 7A , East Coast Park Service Road , , - , 7B , Bedok South Avenue 1 , , - style="background: #ffdddd" , 8A , Siglap Road , Eastbound exit and entrance only , - style="background: #ffdddd" , 8B , Marine Vista , Eastbound exit and entrance only , - , 10A , East Coast Park Service Road , , - , 10B , Still Road South , , - style="background: #ffdddd" , 11 , Tanjong Katong Road , Eastbound exit and entrance; westbound entrance only , - , 13 , Fort Road , Signed as Exit 14A eastbound , - style="background: #ffdddd" , 14B , MCE (AYE) , Westbound exit and eastbound entrance only , - , 14 , KPE (TPE) , , - style="background: #dff9f9" , 15 , Rochor Road , Westbound terminus; continues west as Sheares Avenue

References

External links

*
Traffic cameras monitoring the ECP

{{coord, 1.3052, 103.9212, display=title Expressways in Singapore Bedok Changi Downtown Core (Singapore) Kallang Marina East Marina South Marine Parade Tampines