Second East–West Highway

Route background

The Kilometre Zero of the Federal Route 185 is located at Simpang Pulai, Perak, at its junctions with the Federal Route 1, the main trunk road of the central of Peninsular Malaysia and end at Gua Musang town. Meanwhile, section from Chiku to Kuala Telemung regazetted as Federal Route 36 in February 2017.

Federal Route 185 traverses two of Peninsular Malaysia's main mountain ranges, the Titiwangsa Range (Perak–Pahang–Kelantan) and the Pantai Timur Range (Kelantan–Terengganu). Hence, several tourist attractions can be found along the highway include Cameron Highlands, Lojing and the Kenyir Lake.

History

The highway used to be known as Perak State Route 181 from Simpang Pulai to Pos Slim before being extended eastwards and recommissioned as a federal highway. The construction of the highway began in 2001 and was completed in 2004. Phase 2 was completed at the end of 2010.

Location of the project

The route runs through the states of Perak, Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu, starting at Simpang Pulai and traversing through the main range at Lojing, then Chiku, before entering Jalan Felda Aring and ending at Kuala Jeneris.

Project scope of work

The total distance of the road is 313.66 km, excluding the 41 km existing road from Gua Musang to Chiku, Kelantan. The road is designed to Malaysian Public Works Department (JKR) geometric standard of R3 with a design speed of 50 km/h.

In terms of riding comfort, this R3 standard falls in between the R5 or R6 standard for expressway (typically with a design speed of 80–110 km/h) and R1 or R2 standard such as the winding hilly road (typically with a design speed of 20–30 km/h).

Typically, the road is a two-lane single carriageway with a lane width of 3.5m and shoulder width of 2.5m. Climbing lanes are also provided at certain sections with steep gradient, to assist slow moving vehicles. The project also involves the construction of viaducts, bridges and culverts.

Those who want to go from Simpang Pulai to Kuala Berang/Kuala Berang to Simpang Pulai must go through part of federal route 8.

Estimated cost

The entire project is estimated to cost RM1.6 billion and divided into 10 packages for implementation.

Features

Lojing Viaduct is the second highest bridge in Malaysia.

At most sections, the Federal Route 185 was built under the JKR R5 road standard, allowing maximum speed limit of up to 90 km/h.

The highway overlaps with T156 Jalan Pengkalan Utama from Kenyir Lake to Kuala Jeneris.

An extension of the highway from Kuala Jeneris to Kuala Telemung bypass is under construction to connect Route FT 185 to LPT 2 and Bukit Payung. In September 2024 Citaglobal Engineering Services Sdn Bhd has secured a RM47.56mil job for construction works for Package 8 of the Simpang Pulai–Gua Musang–Kuala Berang road project from Kampung Jeneris to Kuala Telemong (Phase 2 and 3) in Hulu Terengganu, Terengganu. The project will take 12 months to complete.

Notable events

• 20 December 2010 – Twenty-seven people, mostly Thai tourist were killed when the double-decked coach bus they were travelling in crashed at the Second East–West Highway of the Perak–Pahang border near Cameron Highlands, Pahang.
• In February 2017, Second East–West Highway section from Chiku to Kuala Berang (Jalan Aring 8 & Jalan Aring 5-Kuala Jeneris) regazetted as . Meanwhile, section overlaps with D29 at Gua Musang regazetted as .

List of junctions and towns

This is a list of junctions and towns along the highway.

Gallery

007 On the road to the Cameron Highlands (9134057268).jpg|FT185 near its west end in Simpang Pulai, eastbound 009 On the road to the Cameron Highlands (9134068182).jpg|FT185 snakes up through the Titiwangsa Mountains near the border with Pahang, not far from Cameron Highlands Jambatan di Lojing.jpg|Lojing Viaduct, Lojing Tasik Kenyir to Gua Musang (8320657345).jpg|The highway near Aring, towards the border with Terengganu. Taken prior to widening. Second East–West Highway - Terengganu (1).jpg|The Terengganuan section of FT185, near Kenyir Lake

References

References

1. . (2013). "Statistik Jalan (Edisi 2013)". *[[Malaysian Public Works Department]]*.