Bayan Lepas Expressway Viaduct

Bayan Lepas Expressway Viaduct (3 April 2016)


Bayan Lepas Expressway Viaduct is an elevated highway over a section of the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway in Bayan Lepas, Penang. It covers a distance of 3.2 kilometres along the Bayan Lepas Coast, to the east of the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone Phases III and IV. This stretch of the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway has an at grade road also known as the Bayan Lepas Expressway or BLE. It is designated the highway code of Route 3113.

Completed in 2016, the Bayan Lepas Expressway Viaduct is the second elevated highway on Penang Island after the Bayan Baru Viaduct. It was built to allow motorists heading towards and from the Second Penang Bridge to bypass the traffic emerging from the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone. The viaduct was built at a cost of RM337 million. It is part of a RM380 million road upgrading project for Federal Route 3113. It was opened to the public by Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusoff at a ceremony witnessed by Public Works Department Director-General Datuk Ir. Adanan Mohamed Hussain and UEM Builders Managing Director Mohd Razin Ghazali at 2:00 pm on Wednesday, 6 April, 2016.

The Bayan Lepas Expressway Viaduct bypasses several junctions including Hilir Sungai Keluang, Lebuhraya Kampung Jawa and Jalan Kampung Jawa. Motorists have unimpeded travel between the Sungai Nibong Interchange in front of Queensbay Mall and the Batu Maung Interchange. The viaduct has two lanes on each side while the 4.8-kilometer stretch of the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway below the viaduct is widened to three lanes on each side. The upgrading work on the at grade expressway was completed 2016.

Map of Bayan Lepas Expressway Viaduct, Penang

Bayan Lepas Expressway (BLE) (3 April 2016)


Bayan Lepas Expressway (BLE) (3 April 2016)


Bayan Lepas Expressway (BLE) (3 April 2016)


Bayan Lepas Expressway (BLE) (3 April 2016)


Bayan Lepas Expressway (BLE) (3 April 2016)

Updates of the Bayan Lepas Expressway

11 March, 2015 The Star reports that the accident mentioned on 10 March below was due to the brakes of the factory bus failing, and that the driver had to ram his vehicle to the T-support column to slow it down.

10 March, 2015 New Straits Times reports that 40 factory workers were seriously hurt when the factory bus they were in crashed into the beam of the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Elevated Highway under construction. The accident that happened at 6:00 am in the morning ripped off the top portion of the bus.

The Bayan Lepas Expressway during construction

Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Elevated Highway (under construction) (26 October 2013)


Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Elevated Highway (26 October 2013)

The original Bayan Lepas Expressway

The name Bayan Lepas Expressway originally refers to the motorway that is part of Federal Route 3113, which includes the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway. The entire 17.84 km length of the expressway was renamed the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway by the Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, following the demise of the namesake on 24 November, 2010.

The original Bayan Lepas Expressway runs from the Batu Uban Interchange (Exit 311308) of the Penang Bridge, to Batu Maung. The expressway has been constructed in stages. In the early years, it was simply known as the Coastal Road, as the expressway was built entirely on reclaimed land which was mostly mangrove swamp and marshland. It was the main thoroughfare serving the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone. With the construction of this expressway, new townships such as Queensbay was developed.

The poor level of local workmanship of the original Bayan Lepas Expressway was visible in the undulating surface of the motorway, caused by the subsiding of the reclaimed land. In comparison, the stretch of motorway built by Hyundai, as part of the Penang Bridge access road, between Jalan Tunku Kudin and the Batu Uban Interchange, has seen little subsiding.

Despite its name, the Bayan Lepas Expressway was not a true expressway, as it did not have grade separated interchanges. This was somewhat overcome with the construction of the elevated highway that opened to traffic on 6 April, 2016. While it is a divided arterial road with a number of grade-separated interchanges, the Bayan Lepas Expressway also has a number of intersecting junctions, all along the Free Industrial Zone stretch, providing access to different section of the factory area. This, and the use of blue federal route signages, rather than the green expressway signages, are indicative of the expressway really being a federal route or a highway at most.

The Bayan Lepas Expressway is expected to see heavier traffic when the Second Penang Bridge is completed in Batu Maung.

Getting there

Rapid Penang Bus 307, 308 and 401E pass through the Bayan Lepas Expressway.

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