road network covers 144,403 kilometres (89,728 mi), of which 116,169
kilometres (72,184 mi) is paved, and 1,821 kilometres (1,132 mi) is
expressways. The longest highway of the country, the North-South Expressway, extends over
800 kilometres (497 mi) between the Thai border and Singapore. The road
systems in Sabah and Sarawak are less developed and of lower quality in
comparison to that of Peninsular
Malaysia. Recently, the
construction of Pan-Borneo
Highway is approved under 2015
Malaysian Budget. The highway project
span 1,663 km (936 km in Sarawak, 727 km in Sabah) mostly mirror
the existing trunk road, and it involves the widening of the present three-metre
wide single-carriageway into a dual-carriageway. Driving on the left has been compulsory since the
introduction of motor vehicles in Federated
Malay States in 1903 during British colonial era.
Federal Roads System
Malaysian Federal Roads
System, is the main national road network in Malaysia. All Federal Roads in
Malaysia are under the purview of Ministry of Works (MOW). According to
Minister's Function Act 1969, MOW responsible to plan, build and maintain all
Federal Roads gazetted under the Federal Road Act 1959. However, most of the
Federal roads' projects was built and maintained by the Malaysian Public Works Department (JKR) which are also one of the
implementing agency under the MOW.
The total length of
federal roads is 49,935 km.
routes are labeled with only numbers. Both federal and state roads have blue
road signs and the text colour is white.
of the federal roads in Malaysia are two-lane roads. Malaysia implements a
right-hand driving system where drivers drive on the left side of the road.
However, there are in certain places where additional lanes are available. In
town areas, federal roads may become four-lane roads to increase traffic
capacity. In hilly areas, additional third climbing lane is available for
slower vehicles such as buses and lorries.
Some federal roads may have motorcycle lanes. On Malaysian federal
roads, the motorcycle lanes are placed at the extreme left side of each
direction and only separated from the main lanes by black-and-white stripes to
enable motorcyclists to overtake slower motorcycles and to turn right to exit
Some expressways in Malaysia such as Federal Highway and Skudai
Highway are federally funded,
therefore all federally funded expressways are also classified as federal
State Roads System
Malaysian State Roads System are the secondary roads in Malaysia. The construction of state
roads in Malaysia is funded by Malaysian
Public Works Department (JKR) of
each state. The standard of state roads is similar with the federal roads except for the coding system, where
the codes for state roads begin with state codes followed by route number, for
example Johor State Route J32 is labeled as J32. If a state road
crosses the state border, the state code will change, for example route B20 in Salak Tinggi, Selangor will change to N20 after crossing the
border of Negeri Sembilan to Nilai.
The Malaysian Expressway System is
a network of national controlled-access
expressways in Malaysia that forms the primary backbone
network of Malaysian national highways. The network begins with the North-South Expressway (NSE), and is being substantially developed.
Malaysian expressways are built by private companies under the supervision of
the government highway authority, Malaysian
Highway Authority .
The expressway network of Malaysia is considered
the best controlled-access expressway network in Southeast Asia and also among the best network in
Asia after China, Japan and South
Korea.They were 30 expressways in the country and the total length is 1,821
kilometres (1,132 mi) and
another 219.3 kilometres (136.3 mi) is under construction. The closed toll
expressway system is similar to the Japanese
Expressway System and Chinese Expressway System. All
Malaysian toll expressways are controlled-access
highway and managed in the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) system.
There are expressways in West Malaysia and East
Malaysia, however, the former are better-connected. The North-South Expressway
passes through all the major cities and conurbations in West Malaysia, such as Penang, Ipoh, the Klang Valley and Johor
Bahru. The Pan Borneo Highway connects the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak with Brunei.
The construction, standards,
management and usage of expressways in Malaysia are subject to Federal Roads
Act 1984. In Malaysia, expressways are defined as high-speed routes with
at least four lanes (two in each direction) and should have full access control or partial access control. Most
expressways in Malaysia are controlled-access expressways.
Expressways are defined as high-speed highways built under the JKR
R6 rural highway standard, as dual-carriageways of at least 4 lanes (2 lanes per
carriageway) with full access control, grade-separated interchanges and high
design speed limit of 120 km/h, allowing the maximum speed limit of
Highways, on the other hand, complement the national network of
expressways and federal roads and built under the JKR R5 rural highway
standard, with relatively high design speed limit of 100 km/h, allowing
the maximum speed limit of 90 km/h. The
highways are built with partial access control.