On the fast track: A front page photo of the Tapah section of the North-South Expressway, published in the StarMetro section of The Star on June 20, 2018.

       IT might sound incredulous, but there was a time when a typical car journey from Kuala Lumpur to Ipoh took at least four hours.

       And if it should coincide with the festivities – such as the rush home during Chinese New Year – then expect to double your travel time.

       The trunk roads ruled in the 1980s and early 1990s. They were the arterial routes that connected traffic through each town, at an average speed of 50kph or less for the journey from Kuala Lumpur to Ipoh, for instance.

       “Those were the days without the North-South Expressway (NSE),” said news editor Meng Yew Choong, who has been covering the transport beat since 2010.

       The arrival of the NSE changed the dynamics for many towns on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

       “By providing a faster option to the toll-free federal route, the NSE has significantly reduced travelling time between many towns, and has kept the economy thriving,” he said.

       “The opening of NSE heralded a new era of faster road transportation for both passenger and commercial vehicles, while simultaneously offering relief for congestion on federal roads,” Meng said.

       For example, the same Kuala Lumpur to Ipoh journey can be completed in slightly more than two hours, or at average speed of above 80kph.

       Constructed over a period of seven years, NSE was officially opened on Sept 8, 1994, signalling the coming of age of Malaysia’s road transportation system.

       The NSE, which stretches from the Kedah-Thai border in the north, all the way to the tip of Johor as it meets Singapore, is a critical national infrastructure.

       With a total length of 772km, the network consists of the northern route and southern route that passes through seven states. It has sealed itself beyond doubt as an important road for local, interstate and international cargo traffic.

       The idea behind NSE was first conceived in 1977, when the growth of the country led to increasing congestion on the mostly toll-free Federal Route 1, which was the main backbone of Peninsular Malaysia’s road network.

       It was not, however, a straightforward decision to proceed with the project due to economic uncertainties, as well as the large capital outlay. Construction did finally begin in 1981.

       The economic downturn in the 1980s led to the stalling of construction, so much so that the government subsequently decided to fully privatise the project.

       Parts of the NSE were finally completed in 1994, with toll collection from the serviceable sections funding the ongoing work at other stretches of the expressway.

       The NSE is divided into the northern route (route E1), and the southern route (route E2), with both largely running parallel to Federal Route 1. The E1 and E2 parts of NSE are linked together in the Klang Valley via the North–South Expressway Central Link (Elite, or Expressway Lingkaran Tengah).

       E1 begins from Bukit Kayu Hitam in Kedah, all the way to Bukit Lanjan, Selangor, while E2, which begins near Johor Baru, ends at the Selangor-Kuala Lumpur border.

       E2, which begins from Johor Baru, ends at the Selangor–Kuala Lumpur border, near Sungai Besi.