The Stormwater Management And Road Tunnel (SMART Tunnel), E38, is a storm drainage and road structure in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

, and a major national project in the country. The tunnel is the longest

stormwater Stormwater, also spelled storm water, is water that originates from precipitation ( storm), including heavy rain and meltwater from hail and snow. Stormwater can soak into the soil ( infiltrate) and become groundwater, be stored on depressed l ...

drainage tunnel A drainage tunnel, called an emissary in ancient contexts, is a tunnel or channel created to drain water, often from a stagnant or variable-depth body of water. It typically leads to a lower stream or river, or to a location where a pumping stati ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

and second longest in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. The main objective of this tunnel is to solve the problem of

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing ...

s in Kuala Lumpur and to reduce traffic jams along

Jalan Sungai Besi Like all other historical urban centres, the capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, contains a number of current and old roads and streets across the city. This article contains an alphabetical list of notable roads within ...

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 A kampong (''kampung'' in Malay and Indonesian) is the term for a village in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore and a "port" in Cambodia. The term applies to traditional villages, especially of the indigenous people, and has also been ...

lake near Klang River at Ampang and ends at

Taman Desa Desa is a housing estate in south-western Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia under the postcode 58100. Located off the East–West Link Expressway and Jalan Klang Lama, Taman Desa falls under the Seputeh parliamentary constituency. Features Taman Desa's c ...

lake near

Kerayong River The Kerayong River is a river in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It runs from Taman Cheras and empties into the Klang River near the Pantai Dalam Komuter station ta, பாண்டே தலம் , type = Commuter rail station , ...

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 MMC Corporation Berhad (MMC).

Route background

The Kilometre Zero of the tunnel is located 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 on 25 November 2003. Two

Herrenknecht Herrenknecht AG is a German company that manufactures tunnel boring machines, headquartered in Allmannsweier, Schwanau, Baden-Württemberg. It is the worldwide market leader for heavy tunnel boring machines. Roughly two-thirds of its 5,000 employ ...

Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

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. As of September 2020, the tunnel had activated its fourth mode for the seventh time. During the flash flood on 10 September 2020, the tunnel diverted three million cubic metres of water. In December 2021, SMART entered Mode 4 for an eighth time, due to the massive flooding caused by heavy rainfall lasting from December 16 to 18. Things would have been much worse in Kuala Lumpur had it not been for the tunnel, which successfully diverted 5 million cubic metres of flood water during the 22 hours it was on full activation.

Functioning

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. After the flood has ended, the tunnel is verified and cleaned via pressure-washing, and the motorway will be reopened to traffic within 48 hours of closure.Success of Kuala Lumpur's dual purpose tunnel. ITS International. Online at http://www.itsinternational.com/categories/detection-monitoring-machine-vision/features/success-of-kuala-lumpurs-dual-purpose-tunnel/

Technical specifications

Stormwater tunnel

* Construction cost: RM1,887 million (US$514.6 million) * Stormwater tunnel length: * Diameter: 13.2 m (43.3 ft) (outer diameter) * Tunnelling method: tunnel boring machine (TBM) * TBM type: Slurry shield

Motorway tunnel

* Motorway tunnel length: * Structure type: double deck * Ingress and egress: at Jalan Sultan Ismail and Jalan Imbi * Length: at Jalan Tun Razak * Links: at

Kuala Lumpur–Seremban Expressway The Kuala Lumpur–Seremban Expressway is a main expressway in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This expressway links Kuala Lumpur in the north to Seremban, Negeri Sembilan in the south. Some maps label this highway as E2 as it links directly with the ...

Links: City Centre near Kg. Pandan Roundabout KL–Seremban Expressway near

Sungai Besi Airport RMAF Kuala Lumpur was an air base in Kuala Lumpur. It is also known as Sungai Besi Air Base, Simpang Airport, Old Airport. History It served as the main airport for Kuala Lumpur from 1952 to 1965 under the name Kuala Lumpur International Airpo ...

Features

* World's First Dual-Function Tunnel (Stormwater Management & Road) * 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 A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to a ...

units consisting of two modified

Toyota Hilux The , stylized as HiLux and historically as Hi-Lux, is a series of pickup trucks produced and marketed by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. The majority of these vehicles are sold as pickup truck or cab chassis variants, although th ...

pickup trucks, parked at two different locations for quick access to the tunnel in case of fire on both carriageways.Custom-Built Fire Engines for SMART Highway Delivered to the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department
- from SMART Tunnel official website

Tolls

The SMART Tunnel motorway using opened toll systems. All toll transactions at this toll plaza is only allowed with Touch 'n Go cards or SmartTAG.

Toll rates

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

FM radio channels available

List of interchanges

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

From/to E37 East–West Link Expressway

From/to E37 Kuala Lumpur–Seremban Expressway

Motorway tunnel

Sultan Ismail link tunnel

Tunnel in popular culture

* The SMART Tunnel was featured in an episode of '' Extreme Engineering'' on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

. * The SMART Tunnel was featured in an episode of '' Truly Malaysia'' on the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney General ...

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

and TV1. * The SMART Tunnel was featured in episode 2, Season 1, of ''

Build It Bigger ''Extreme Engineering'' is a documentary television series that aired on the Discovery Channel and the Science Channel. The program featured futuristic and ongoing engineering projects. After ending of season 3 it airs under the ''Build It ...

'' on the Science Channel.

References

External links

SMART Tunnel

MMC Corporation Berhad

SMART Tunnel - Mott MacDonald Project Page
{{coord missing, Malaysia 2007 establishments in Malaysia Expressways in Malaysia Expressways and highways in the Klang Valley Tunnels completed in 2007 Toll tunnels in Malaysia Water tunnels Drainage tunnels Flood control in Asia Flood control projects

Route background

History

Functioning

Technical specifications

Stormwater tunnel

Motorway tunnel

Features

Tolls

Toll rates

FM radio channels available

List of interchanges

From/to E37 East–West Link Expressway

From/to E37 Kuala Lumpur–Seremban Expressway

Motorway tunnel

Sultan Ismail link tunnel

Tunnel in popular culture

See also

References

External links