Thursday, March 26, 2009

Sunset over the Federal Highway

Gorgeous soft cloudscape over the Federal Highway, as seen from near Midvalley, one evening...


My Canon G9 captured this from our moving car as well ... L spotted the warm golden-glow :-) against the glass frontage.


Wikipedia has some interesting history...
The history of the highway started after the separation of Singapore from Malaysia on 9 August 1965, when the Malaysian government decided to make Port Swettenham (now Port Klang) as Malaysia's new national port as a replacement of Singapore.
As a result, the government planned to build a highway connecting Port Klang to Kuala Lumpur by upgrading the former Kuala Lumpur-Klang Highway (Jalan Kuala Lumpur-Klang) to a full motorway by replacing the existing at-grade intersections with interchanges, making the Federal Highway as Malaysia's first expressway.
Funded by a loan granted by the World Bank, the upgrade works started from 1974 until 1977.
The highway was originally a 4-lane limited access highway except for the Petaling Jaya stretch where it became 6-lane highway. However, in 1992 PLUS Expressway Berhad, the concession holder of North-South Expressway has upgraded the entire highway to a 6-lane highway with two toll plazas, Batu Tiga and Sungai Rasau.
The 6-lane toll highway had begun in operation on 11 May 1993. The highway handles incredible volumes of traffic and one should expect a significant jam at more or less any time of day.

Interesting commentary on the same article about the parallel "motor" lane!
Dangerous motorcycle lane ... The Federal Highway is well-known as the first expressway in Malaysia to have motorcycle lanes. However, the motorcycle lanes in the Federal Highway are known for its dangers towards motorcyclists, such as dark, narrow and poorly-maintained lanes and ramps, dangerous sharp corners, and the nature of the motorcycle lanes themselves to be vulnerable spots for robberies.
It is due to the fact that the motorcycle lanes are originally intended for bicycle riders,with the design speed limit as low as 60 km/h.

Even more interesting!
Notable event ... 18 December 1988 - R Arumugam. Malaysian's national football player died in a car accident on Federal Highway near Petaling Jaya. (Source: Muzium Sultan Alam Shah, Shah Alam).

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