Kuala Lumpur–Karak Expressway

The Kuala Lumpur–Karak Expressway^[1] East Coast Expressway is a 60-kilometre (37 mi) interstate controlled-access highway in Peninsular Malaysia. It runs between the town of Gombak in Selangor to the southwest and Karak in Pahang to the northeast. The expressway was previously a single-carriageway trunk road forming part of federal route 2; this designation has been kept after the upgrade in 1997. It shares its designation with the East Coast Expressway proper that succeeds it.

Expressway 8
Kuala Lumpur–Karak Expressway Lebuhraya Kuala Lumpur–Karak
Route map
Route information
Part of AH141
Maintained by ANIH Berhad
Length	60 km (37 mi)
Existed	1974–present
History	Completed in 1979
Major junctions
Southwest end	FT 28 Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 2 at Gombak, Selangor
Major intersections	FT 68 Jalan Gombak–Bentong Genting Sempah–Genting Highlands Highway FT 121 Jalan Sambung Kuala Lumpur/Karak–Bentong FT 8 Kuala Lumpur–Kota Bharu Highway FT 34 Central Spine Road FT 2 Jalan Kuantan–Kuala Lumpur
Northeast end	East Coast Expressway East Coast Expressway at Karak, Pahang
Location
Country	Malaysia
Primary destinations	Gombak, Genting Highlands, Bukit Tinggi, Bentong, Karak
Highway system
Highways in Malaysia Expressways Federal State

The highway has many hairpin bends and many stretches pass through remote forested terrain. Vehicular accidents, many of them fatal, have often occurred on the highway. Because of its remoteness and high number of accidents, the expressway has developed a reputation for being haunted (Example The Legend of The Volkswagen Kuning In English it means Yellow Volkswagen) (see List of reportedly haunted highways).

Route description

The expressway begins at Gombak, Selangor and its interchange with the Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 2. Next, the expressway passes the Titiwangsa Range and the Genting Sempah Tunnel towards Genting Sempah at the border with Pahang.

The section between Bentong and Karak is the sole route from Kuala Lumpur to Kuantan and vice versa, as Jalan Gombak, which serves as the toll-free alternative for the expressway, ends at Ketari, Bentong. At Karak, route 2 splits off, heading southeast towards the town proper while the expressway heads northeast to meet the East Coast Expressway.

History

Two-lane federal highway

Kuala Lumpur–Karak Highway was originally built in the 1970s by the government of Malaysia as an alternative for the winding, narrow route 68 which runs from Gombak in Kuala Lumpur to Bentong, Pahang. The highway is also a part of route 2. The highway included a 900-metre tunnel at Genting Sempah, which became Malaysia's first highway tunnel ever constructed. It was officially opened in 1979 by the former Minister of Works and Communications, Abdul Ghani Gilong.

However, the cost of the construction of this highway was considered as expensive for Malaysia which at that time was an agricultural country. Therefore, the government decided to make Kuala Lumpur–Karak Highway as a toll road to help cover all the construction works. As a result, two toll gates were constructed at Gombak and Bentong and the toll road was administered under Malaysian Highway Authority. The highway was officially opened to traffic in 1977.

Signage indicating approaching exit to Bukit Tinggi, Pahang

Multi-lane expressway

The importance of the Kuala Lumpur–Karak Highway as the main road from Kuala Lumpur to the eastern states of Peninsular Malaysia resulted in the government's decision to upgrade the highway to a multi-lane expressway by duplicating the whole highway stretch to one side. Thus, the former two-lane highway became a dual-carriageway with six lanes (three in each direction) from Kuala Lumpur to the Genting Highlands exit and four lanes (two in each direction) for the rest of the expressway.

The upgrade work also included the construction of a second tunnel located beside the existing tunnel to provide additional two lanes for eastbound traffic, widening the toll gates at Gombak and Bentong and also constructing interchanges to replace junctions. However, some junctions were impossible to upgrade to interchanges due to their geographical locations and therefore some U-turns were constructed to provide entry and exit to the junction for the opposite direction of the expressway. The expressway has two separate carriageways at Genting Sempah on the Selangor–Pahang border (one for the Selangor side and one for the Pahang side) due to their geographical locations. The upgrade work was completed in 1997.

MTD Prime held the concession to operate the expressway. The expressway acquired its official route number, E8, at completion, which resulted in overlapping route numbers. As a result, some maps labelled the expressway as E8 and some other maps labelled the expressway as federal route 2.

On 7 April 2011, ANIH Berhad became the concession holder after taking over operations from MTD Prime Sdn Bhd and Metramac Corporation Sdn Bhd.

Major events

• on 28 January 1990, 17 people, including 11 FRU riot police personnel, were killed in a collision between Federal Reserve Unit riot police vehicles, a tanker lorry, a passenger bus, and 10 cars at kilometre 32.5 of the highway not far from Genting Sempah Tunnel in Gombak, Selangor.
• On 11 November 2015, a landslide occurred at km 52.4 of the Kuala Lumpur–Karak Expressway between Lentang and Bukit Tinggi, Pahang due to heavy rains. The Lentang–Bukit Tinggi stretch of the expressway was closed to traffic.
• On 18 December 2021, a storm caused the highway to be blocked in three places by floodwater, mud and forest debris.^[2]
• On 25 July 2023, a sinkhole near Bentong Plaza Toll appeared on KM 66.1 at 8.34pm due to the East Coast Rail Link tunnel boring works. It caused the road closure on the site and ANIH Berhad forced road users to use the exit at the Bentong east exit (near the Benus industrial estate) and enter the Bentong west exit (near Bentong toll plaza).^[3]

Toll systems

The Kuala Lumpur–Karak Expressway uses a toll system.

Electronic Toll Collections (ETC)

As part of an initiative to facilitate faster transactions at the Gombak and Bentong Toll Plazas, all toll transactions at both toll plazas on the Kuala Lumpur–Karak Expressway have been conducted electronically via Touch 'n Go cards or SmartTAGs since 9 September 2015.

Toll rates

(Starting 15 October 2015)

Class	Type of vehicles	Rate (in Malaysian Ringgit (RM))
		Gombak	Bentong
0	Motorcycles, bicycles or vehicles with 2 or fewer wheels	Free
1	Vehicles with 2 axles and 3 or 4 wheels excluding taxis	6.00	3.50
2	Vehicles with 2 axles and 5 or 6 wheels excluding buses	12.00	7.00
3	Vehicles with 3 or more axles	18.00	10.50
4	Taxis	3.00	1.80
5	Buses	5.00	3.00

Interchange list

km	Exit	Interchange	To	Remarks
	801	Gombak North Interchange	FT 28 AH141 Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 2 Southwest AH141 Batu Caves Kuala Lumpur Kepong Duta–Ulu Klang Expressway Sentul FT 1 Rawang North–South Expressway Northern Route Ipoh Damansara–Puchong Expressway Petaling Jaya Southeast Ulu Klang Ampang Cheras Sungai Besi–Ulu Klang Elevated Expressway Kajang North–South Expressway Central Link AH2 Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) North–South Expressway Southern Route AH2 Johor Bahru North–South Expressway Southern Route AH2 Melaka North–South Expressway Southern Route AH2 Seremban Shah Alam Expressway Shah Alam Shah Alam Expressway Klang	Directional T expressway interchange
FT 28 FT 2 AH141 Kuala Lumpur Middle Ring Road 2 Start/end of highway JKR border limit
East Coast Expressway FT 2 AH141 Kuala Lumpur–Karak Expressway Start/end of expressway ANIH Berhad border limit
East Coast Expressway 19 FT 2 19
Gombak toll plaza GBK Touch 'n Go SmartTAG MyRFID SmartTAG Touch 'n Go Opened toll systems Pay toll
East Coast Expressway 19.9 FT 2 19.9		Gombak toll plaza GBK	TnG TAG Customer Service Centre	East Coast bound
East Coast Expressway 20 FT 2 20		Gombak Layby	Layby	East Coast bound
East Coast Expressway 20.1 FT 2 20.1
		UIA Interchange	East Klang Valley Expressway KL Node Expressway North Rawang Kuala Selangor South Kajang Hulu Langat Ampang Ulu Klang	Interchange Under planning
		BH Petrol BH Petrol Layby	BH Petrol	East Coast bound
		Gombak Layby	Layby Lemang stalls	West Coast bound
		JPJ Malaysian Road Transport Department (JPJ) Enforcement Stations	JPJ Malaysian Road Transport Department (JPJ) Enforcement Stations	East Coast bound
		Sungai Gombak bridge ---m above sea level
		Kampung Hulu Gombak ---m above sea level
		U-Turn ---m above sea level	U-Turn
		Lemang stalls ---m above sea level	Layby Lemang stalls	East Coast bound
East Coast Expressway 30 FT 2 30		---m above sea level
East Coast Expressway 30.5 FT 2 30.5		---m above sea level
East Coast Expressway 31 FT 2 31		---m above sea level
East Coast Expressway 31.5 FT 2 31.5		---m above sea level
		---m above sea level		Start/end of separated carriageway
		Viaduct ---m above sea level		Kuala Lumpur bound, Engage lower gear West coast bound
		---m above sea level		Kuala Lumpur bound, Engage lower gear Start/end of separated carriageway
		Viaduct ---m above sea level		Kuala Lumpur bound, Engage lower gear
		Viaduct ---m above sea level		Kuala Lumpur bound, Engage lower gear
	803A	Genting Sempah Interchange 570m above sea level	803A FT 68 Genting Sempah-Genting Highlands Highway FT 68 Genting Highlands FT 68 Gohtong Jaya Institut Aminuddin Baki	Expressway interchange From/to West Coast only
		Genting Sempah Tunnel 700 metres		Start/end of tunnel
Selangor Darul Ehsan Gombak district border
Genting Sempah Tunnel 700 metres Selangor-Pahang border 570m above sea level
Pahang Darul Makmur Bentong district border
		Genting Sempah Tunnel 700 metres		Start/end of tunnel
	803	Genting Sempah Interchange 561m above sea level MTD Prime maintenance office MTD Prime Genting Sempah Tunnel Monitoring and Maintenance Centre	803 FT 68 Genting Sempah FT 68 Genting Highlands FT 68 Gohtong Jaya C7 Janda Baik Institut Aminuddin Baki	West coast bound
		Genting Sempah Rest and Service Area 560m above sea level	Petronas McDonald's	R&R complex
		560m above sea level		Kuantan bound, Engage lower gear Start/end of separated carriageway
	803	Genting Sempah Interchange 559m above sea level MTD Prime maintenance office MTD Prime Genting Sempah Tunnel Monitoring and Maintenance Centre	803 FT 68 Genting Sempah FT 68 Genting Highlands FT 68 Gohtong Jaya C7 Janda Baik Institut Aminuddin Baki	U-Turn Ramp on East coast bound
		Sungai Tanglir bridge ---m above sea level		Kuantan bound, Engage lower gear East Coast bound
		V Genting Sempah vista point and truck stops ---m above sea level	V	West Coast bound
		---m above sea level		Start/end of separated carriageway Start/end of six-lane carriageway Kuantan bound, Engage lower gear
		Sungai Tanglir bridge ---m above sea level		Kuantan bound, Engage lower gear
East Coast Expressway 42 FT 2 42		---m above sea level		Kuantan bound, Engage lower gear
42.8
East Coast Expressway 43 FT 2 43		Kampung Bukit Tinggi ---m above sea level	FT 68 Kampung Bukit Tinggi Selesa Homes Golf and Country Resort	Small interchange Both directions
East Coast Expressway 47 FT 2 47		---m above sea level
		Sungai Tanglir bridge ---m above sea level
East Coast Expressway 48 FT 2 48	805	Bukit Tinggi Interchange ---m above sea level	Berjaya Hills Resort (Bukit Tinggi Resort)	Trumpet interchange
		Sungai Benus bridge ---m above sea level
		Lentang Layby ---m above sea level	Lentang Laybys Layby Lentang waterfall and forest reserve Lentang Forest Rangers Office U-Turn West Kuala Lumpur East Kuantan	Both bound
		Kampung Lentang ---m above sea level
		Sungai Gisai bridge ---m above sea level
		Sungai—bridge ---m above sea level
		U-Turn ---m above sea level	U-Turn WEST Kuala Lumpur East Kuantan
		Sungai Benus bridge ---m above sea level
		Dusun Eco Resort ---m above sea level	Dusun Eco Resort	East Coast bound
		Petronas Petronas Layby ---m above sea level	Petronas Singgah Food Court	East Coast bound
		Sungai Perting Pandak bridge ---m above sea level
		Sungai Benus bridge ---m above sea level
Bentong toll plaza BTG Touch 'n Go SmartTAG MyRFID SmartTAG Touch 'n Go Opened toll systems Pay toll
		Bentong toll plaza BTG ---m above sea level
		Bentong Layby ---m above sea level		West Coast bound
	808	Bentong West Interchange	FT 121 Bentong FT 8 Raub FT 8 Kuala Lipis FT 55 Bukit Fraser FT 102 Cameron Highlands	East Coast bound
		MRSM Bentong
		U-Turn	U-TURN
	809	Mempaga Interchange	FT 34 Central Spine Road Bentong Raub Gua Musang	Trumpet Interchange but no Karak exit
	810	Bentong East Interchange	FT 8 Kuala Lumpur–Kota Bharu Highway Bentong Raub Kuala Lipis FT 55 Bukit Fraser FT 102 Cameron Highlands	Trumpet interchange
		Taman Benus Jaya
		Sungai Bentong bridge
		Sungai Bentong bridge
		Kampung Sungai Dua	Kampung Sungai Dua	Diamond interchange
East Coast Expressway 77 FT 2 77	813A 813B	Karak Interchange	813A FT 1498 FELDA Mempaga FT 1498 Kampung Cinta Manis Pusat Serenti Mempaga 813B FT 2 Karak FT 9 Mancis FT 9 Kuala Pilah	Semi-Trumpet interchange
East Coast Expressway FT 2 AH141 Kuala Lumpur–Karak Expressway
East Coast Expressway AH141 East Coast Expressway
			East East Coast Expressway AH141 East Coast Expressway East Coast Expressway AH141 Kuala Terengganu FT 231 Kuantan FT 98 Temerloh FT 236 Lanchang

See also

• Malaysia portal
• Roads portal

• Malaysian Expressway System
• East Coast Expressway