Conference delegates to visit dual-purpose tunnel

Delegates to the ITS AP Forum will have an opportunity to visit Kuala Lumpur’s Stormwater Management & Road Tunnel (SMART), a unique solution to the Malaysian capital’s long-term traffic and stormwater management problems – the first tunnel of its kind in the world.
March 15, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Delegates to the ITS AP Forum will have an opportunity to visit Kuala Lumpur’s Stormwater Management & Road Tunnel (SMART), a unique solution to the Malaysian capital’s long-term traffic and stormwater management problems – the first tunnel of its kind in the world. The dual-purpose tunnel can divert floodwaters away from the confluence of two major rivers running through the city centre, while its central section doubles up as a twin deck motorway to relieve traffic congestion at the main southern gateway into the city centre.

SMART, which cost some US$515M and opened to traffic in May 2007, comprises 9.5km of tunnel with the central 3km incorporating the double deck motorway. There are three modes of operation:
Mode one operates under normal conditions when low rainfall means that no water needs to be diverted into the tunnel. Moderate storms activate mode two, when floodwater is channelled into a bypass tunnel in the lower section of the motorway tunnel, enabling it to remain open to traffic; during the once or twice yearly heavy Monsoon storms a switch is made to mode three when the tunnel is closed to road traffic and the full tunnel section, with a combined capacity of three million cubic metres, becomes available to divert the dramatically increased flows of water.
Urban Traffic Control

Related Content

  • Caltrans takes the long view of transport
    October 21, 2016
    Caltrans’ Malcolm Dougherty took time out of his schedule at ITS America 2016 in San Jose to talk to ITS International about current and future challenges. As director of California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) since mid-2012, many would say that Malcolm Dougherty has one of the best jobs in transportation. Caltrans is one of the most progressive and innovative transport authorities, implementing policies to encourage cycling, piloting new
    Read More
  • Mayor’s plans for London’s road network step up a gear
    February 10, 2015
    The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has revealed further details of plans to deliver his bold vision for the future of London’s road network, aimed at reducing congestion, creating new public spaces and encouraging more people to walk and cycle. The Mayor unveiled proposals to redesign a number of key road networks in the capital in order to unlock growth and make the capital a more attractive place to live and work.
    Read More
  • Imtech receives significant traffic technology orders
    January 15, 2013
    European technical services provider Royal Imtech (Imtech) has been awarded a series of contracts worth US$57.5 million to upgrade the current traffic infrastructure in Stockholm, Moscow, Dublin and Copenhagen, as well as providing the technical infrastructure in a double-deck tunnel in Maastricht, Holland. The company will implement a Motorway Traffic Management (MTM) system on the E18 motorway in Sweden, an important road link in the northern part of Stockholm, featuring two tunnels and used by 50,000 veh
    Read More
  • Estimating winter road recovery time with traffic data
    February 15, 2013
    In Minnesota, US, the most common measure for snow management performance is the time it takes to completely clear a roadway after a snow event ends. Currently, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) relies on visual inspections by its field crews to estimate this bare pavement recovery time. To help MnDOT more accurately and reliably estimate the performance of its snow management activities, researchers from the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) have developed a prototype process that uses
    Read More

Highlighted Content