Butterworth–Kulim Expressway

Butterworth–Kulim Expressway, BKE, Butterworth–Kulim Expressway AH140 (Malay: Lebuhraya Butterworth–Kulim), is the only opened toll system's expressway in Penang, Malaysia. The 17 km (11 mi) expressway connects Butterworth, Penang in the west to Lunas, Kedah in the east. It is also a main route to East–West Highway (Federal Route 4) via Baling, Kedah and Gerik, Perak.

Expressway 15
Butterworth–Kulim Expressway
BKE in red
Route information
Part of AH140
Maintained by PLUS Malaysia Berhad with its subsidiary Projek Lebuhraya Usahasama Berhad (Former concessionaries known as Konsortium Lebuhraya Butterworth-Kulim (KLBK) Sdn Bhd)
Length	17 km (11 mi)
Existed	1994–present
History	Completed in 1996, opened on 15 November 1996
Major junctions
West end	Butterworth, Penang
Major intersections	Butterworth Outer Ring Road FT 1 Butterworth Outer Ring Road FT 4 AH140 Butterworth–Seberang Jaya Toll Road North–South Expressway Northern Route AH2 North–South Expressway Northern Route FT 136 Federal Route 136 FT 3053 Jalan Kulim Hi-Tech FT 4 AH140 East–West Highway
East end	Lunas, Kedah
Location
Country	Malaysia
Primary destinations	Butterworth, Seberang Jaya, Prai, Permatang Pauh, Lunas, Kulim, Baling
Highway system
Highways in Malaysia Expressways Federal State

Route background

The Butterworth–Kulim Expressway E15 is an east–west oriented expressway and is concurrent with the Federal Route 4 and Asian Highway Route AH140 along its entire length. The actual starting point of the expressway is counted as Kilometre 5. Many maps have mistakenly labelled the section between Exit 1501 Kubang Sebang Interchange and Butterworth as a part of the E15 expressway; that is incorrect because the remaining 5-km section is not maintained by PLUS Malaysia Berhad but rather by Lingkaran Luar Butterworth (Penang) Sdn. Bhd.^[1]

The zeroth kilometre is located at Jalan Heng Choon Thian at Butterworth Outer Ring Road's Container Terminal Interchange.

History

The construction of BKE started in December 1994 and was completed in September 1996.

KLBK Sdn Bhd

Konsortium Lebuhraya Butterworth-Kulim (KLBK) Sdn Bhd, commercially known as Buterworth Kulim Expressway (BKE), a wholly owned subsidiary of PLUS Expressway Berhad ("PLUS Expressways",) has been awarded the concession and contract to construct and operate the highway of dual two-lane carriageway with separate motorcycle tracks and related highway facilities for the 16.78 km highway. The concession period is for 32 years (June 1994 to June 2026, including two years construction period), after which the highway will be transferred to the Government. On 2011, the company was taken over to PLUS Malaysia Berhad and its subsidiary Projek Lebuhraya Usahasama Berhad.

Features

• Geographically, the terrain between KM 5.00 (start point) and KM 11.00 is rather flat, passing through paddy field areas. From KM 11.00 to KM 19.00, the terrain is slightly undulating, where cut and fill slopes are common features. The terrain is again flat from KM 19.00 to KM 21.78 (end point), mainly passing through the estates and developing residential areas.
• Geometrically, there are four grades separated interchanges and one at grade interchange along BKE. Moreover, there are nine reinforced concrete bridges (three of those are river bridges, i.e., Sungai Perai, Sungai Kulim and Sungai Kubang Semang, whereas the rest are bridges over local roads or railway track).
• Tuanku Bainun Teachers Training Institute (Institut Perguruan Tuanku Bainun) (IPTB)
• High speed limit 90 km/h
• Four-lane dual carriageway
• SOS emergency phones
• Dedicated motorcycle lane

Tolls

The Butterworth–Kulim Expressway uses opened toll systems.

Electronic Toll Collections (ETC)

As part of an initiative to facilitate faster transaction at the Lunas and Kubang Semang Toll Plazas, all toll transactions at both toll plazas on the Butterworth–Kulim Expressway will be conducted electronically via PLUSMiles, Touch 'n Go cards or SmartTAGs starting 9 September 2015. As of December 2018, the Kubang Semang Toll Plaza and the Lunas Toll Plaza have MyRFID activated on the rightmost lanes sharing the same lanes with those of SmartTAG's lanes. This allows users of MyRFID users to fully utilize those fast lane.

Toll rates

(Since 1 February 2020)

Class	Types of vehicles	Rate (in Malaysian Ringgit (RM))
0	Motorcycles (Vehicles with two axles and two wheels)	Free
1	Private Cars (Vehicles with two axles and three or four wheels (excluding taxis and buses))	1.31
2	Vans and other small goods vehicles (Vehicles with two axles and six wheels (excluding buses))	3.20
3	Large Trucks (Vehicles with three or more axles (excluding buses))	4.80
4	Taxis	0.65
5	Buses	1.31

List of interchanges

The Butterworth–Kulim Expressway is a 4-lane dual-carriageway expressway which allows highway users to drive at a maximum speed of 90 km/h. Upon approaching any toll plazas, highway users have to drive no faster than 60 km/h.

km	Exit	Interchange	To	Remarks
			West Butterworth Outer Ring Road FT 4 AH140 Butterworth Outer Ring Road (NBCT-Sungai Nyior Side) Sungai Nyior Butterworth Bagan Ajam Perai George Town (Ferry )
Butterworth Outer Ring Road FT 4 AH140 Butterworth Outer Ring Road (NBCT-Sungai Nyior Side) LLB border limit
Butterworth–Kulim Expressway 0 FT 4 AH140 0
Butterworth–Kulim Expressway FT 4 AH140 Butterworth-Kulim Expressway PLUS Expressways border limit
	163	Seberang Jaya Interchange	North–South Expressway Northern Route AH2 North-South Expressway Northern Route North Alor Star/Thailand Permatang Pauh South Kuala Lumpur Ipoh Penang	Multi-level stacked roundabout interchange
Butterworth–Kulim Expressway 5	1501	Permatang Pauh Interchange	P7 Jalan Permatang Pauh Permatang Pauh Bukit Mertajam UiTM Permatang Pauh Campus	Diamond interchange
Kubang Semang Toll Plaza KSTP Touch 'n Go Touch 'n Go SmartTAG MyRFID SmartTAG Touch 'n Go Touch 'n Go Opened toll system Pay toll
		Kubang Semang Toll Plaza KSTP		East bound
		Sungai Kubang Semang bridge
	1503	Permatang Nibong Interchange	P3 Permatang Nibong P188 Kubang Semang P3 Penanti	Half diamond interchange
		Railway crossing bridge
	1505	Tasik Mengkuang Interchange	P129 Penanti P129 Berapit P129 Kulim P129 Bukit Mertajam Tokun Hill Bukit Mertajam Recreation Area Institut Perguruan Tuanku Bainun (IPTB)	Diamond interchange
		Penanti Rest and Service Areas and Overhead Bridge Restaurant	Petronas Shell	Both bound
Penang Seberang Perai Tengah district border
Kedah-Penang border
Kedah Darul Aman Kulim district border
		Lunas toll plaza LNS		West bound
Lunas toll plaza LNS Touch 'n Go Touch 'n Go SmartTAG MyRFID SmartTAG Touch 'n Go Touch 'n Go Opened toll system Pay toll
		Sungai Kulim bridge
	1508	Lunas Interchange	North FT 136 Kuala Ketil FT 136 Padang Serai FT 136 Lunas Town Centre South FT 136 Kulim FT 136 Mahang	Diamond interchange
21.7		Sungai Seluang Junctions	North K811 Jalan Sungai Seluang K811 Sungai Seluang FT 136 Sidam FT 136 Padang Serai Southeast Jalan Perusahan Kulim Industrial Area	Junctions
		Kulim Hi-Tech Junctions	South FT 3053 Jalan Kulim Hi-Tech Kulim Hi-Tech Sungai Kob Karangan	Junctions
Butterworth–Kulim Expressway FT 4 AH140 Butterworth-Kulim Expressway Start/End of Expressway PLUS Expressways border limit
Butterworth–Kulim Expressway 21.9
FT 4 AH140 East–West Highway Start/End of highway JKR border limit
			East FT 4 AH140 East–West Highway FT 67 Baling FT 4 AH140 Gerik FT 4 AH140 Jeli FT 4 AH140 Tanah Merah FT 8 Kota Bharu