Bayan Lepas Expressway, Penang

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Bayan Lepas Expressway is a major motorway on Penang Island. It is part of Federal Route 3113 which includes the Jelutong Expressway. Together, 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 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.

The Bayan Lepas Expressway is 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 Bayan Lepas Expressway is clearly visible from 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.

To be frank, the Bayan Lepas Expressway is not a true expressway, in that it is not equivalent in standard to an American freeway. 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.