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

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

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 ...

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

stormwater Stormwater, also written 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 lan ...

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 is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

and second longest in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. 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 and snow. Flash f ...

s in Kuala Lumpur and 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 The UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award was created by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) in 1989 to encourage and recognize the countries, governments, organizations, and individuals who have made great contributions to the deve ...

for its innovative and unique management of storm water and peak hour traffic. It begins at Kampung Berembang lake near

Klang River The Klang River () flows through Kuala Lumpur and Selangor in Malaysia and eventually flows into the Straits of Malacca. It is approximately in length and drains a basin of about . The Klang River has 11 major tributaries. Because the river flo ...

at Ampang and ends at Taman Desa 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 The Klang River () flows through Kuala Lumpur and Selangor in Malaysia and eventually flows into the Straits of ...

at Salak South. The project is led by the government, including

Malaysian Highway Authority The Malaysian Highway Authority (, LLM) is a statutory body under the Malaysian Ministry of Works (MOW). The agency was founded on 24 October 1980 by the Highway Authority of Malaysia (Incorporation) Act 1980 to monitor the works and administra ...

''(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 Gamuda Berhad () is an engineering, property and infrastructure company based in Malaysia. It is one of the largest Malaysian infrastructure companies and has undertaken various projects, both locally and overseas, like the construction of Kl ...

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 (TBMs). Headquartered in Allmannsweier, Schwanau, Baden-Württemberg, it is the worldwide market leader for heavy TBMs. Established by Martin Herrenknecht in 1975, the ...

Tunnel Boring Machine A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole" or a "worm", is a machine used to excavate tunnels. TBMs are an alternative to drilling and blasting methods and "hand mining", allowing more rapid excavation through hard rock, wet or dry so ...

s (TBM) from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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 16 to 18 December. 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. In 2022, the government was considering the proposal to build another tunnel, briefly known as SMART 2, to cater for high density flood-prone area such as

Shah Alam Shah Alam (, from Persian language, Persian, meaning "king of the world") is a city and the state capital of Selangor, Malaysia which is situated within the Petaling District and a small portion of the neighbouring Klang District. Shah Alam rep ...

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 A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole" or a "worm", is a machine used to excavate tunnels. TBMs are an alternative to drilling and blasting methods and "hand mining", allowing more rapid excavation through hard rock, wet or dry so ...

(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 Links: City Centre near Kg. Pandan Roundabout KL–Seremban Expressway near Sungai Besi Airport

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 or fire truck (also spelled firetruck) is a vehicle, usually a specially designed or modified truck, that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to ...

units consisting of two modified

Toyota Hilux The , stylised 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 a pickup truck or cab chassis, although they coul ...

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 utilizes an open toll system. Ever since its operation, all toll transactions at this toll plaza are carried out using

Touch 'n Go Touch 'n Go is a contactless smart card system used for digital currency, electronic payments in Malaysia. The system was introduced in 1997 and is widely used for toll payments on Malaysian Expressway System, highways, public transportation, ...

cards, MyRFIDs or SmartTAGs. Cash payments are not accepted.

Toll rates

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

In popular culture

The tunnel was featured in the below series: *Season 4, Episode 2, of ''

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

'', titled "MegaTunnel", 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 that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

. *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 Enter ...

and TV1. *Season 2, Episode 3, of Man Made Marvels, titled "Kuala Lumpur: Flood Control", on the

Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, manu ...

. *Season 4, Episode 2, of ''

Megastructures A megastructure (or macrostructure) is a very large artificial object, although the limits of precisely how large vary considerably. Some apply the term to any especially large or tall building. Some sources define a megastructure as an enorm ...

'' on the

and TV1. *Season 1, Episode 2 of ''

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

'' on the

References

External links

SMART TunnelMap of the SMART tunnelMMC Corporation BerhadSMART 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 Malaysia 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

In popular culture

See also

References

External links