The Penang Bridge (Malay: Jambatan Pulau Pinang) is a dual carriageway toll bridge connects George Town on the island of Penang and Seberang Prai on the mainland of Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula. The bridge is also linked to the North-South Expressway in Prai and Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway in Penang. It was officially opened to traffic on 14 September 1985. The total length of the bridge is 13.5 km (8.4 mi), making it the second longest bridge in Malaysia as and the fifth-longest in Southeast Asia. The bridge was designed by Penang resident, Professor Chin Fung Kee, a well known civil engineer. Penang Bridge Sdn Bhd (PBSB) is the concession holder which manages it but now it is a member company of PLUS Malaysia Berhad (PLUS) with its subsidiary Projek Lebuhraya Usahasama Berhad.

Recently, Penang Bridge was assigned with the route number .

Overview

Before 1985, transportation between the island and the mainland was solely dependent on the state-owned Penang Ferry Service that runs between Butterworth and George Town. Toll fees is only paid when heading to the island. There is no charge for leaving the island.

Currently, Penang Bridge handles 65,000 vehicles daily and has a capacity of handling 85,000 vehicles daily. It has been expanded from 4 lanes to 6 lanes to accommodate increasing traffic on the bridge. A new second bridge, the Penang Second Bridge, was approved by the Malaysian federal government on 2006 and included as one of the Ninth Malaysia Plan national projects. Construction work of the new Penang Second Bridge began in November 2008, and the target completion date is year 2013. The second bridge in which the official named as the Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge was opened to traffic on 1 March 2014.

Route background

The Kilometre Zero of the expressway starts at Perai Interchange of the Tun Hussein Onn Highway, at its interchange with the North-South Expressway Northern Route , the main expressway of the central of Peninsular Malaysia.

History

Planning

Before 1985, transportation between the island and the mainland was solely dependent on the state-owned Penang Ferry Service that runs between Butterworth and George Town.

In the early 1970s, the idea to build a bridge linking Seberang Perai to Penang Island was suggested by the 2nd Prime Minister of Malaysia's Tun Abdul Razak and the 2nd Chief Minister of Penang's Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu.

In the late 1970s, Penang Bridge was planned during the term of 3rd Prime Minister of Malaysia's Tun Hussein Onn.

On 23 July 1981, Works Minister of Malaysia's Dato Seri Samy Vellu announced that Penang Bridge, Penang would be constructed using the cable-stayed concrete girder of the San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge instead of the steel-tied arch in the style of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Construction

In 1982, the construction of Penang Bridge officially began. The bridge was constructed by the Hyundai Engineering and Construction Company (Korea) Ltd from South Korea and the United Engineers Malaysia Berhad. During construction, a two man made island at South Channel was created for the construction of the cable stayed bridge and the Gelugor coastline was reclaimed into cape for the construction of the Gelugor interchange.

Opening

On 3 August 1985, the Penang Bridge was officialy opened by the 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia's Tun Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad. He drove across the bridge in a red Proton Saga (the national car), carrying the national flag to officiate the opening ceremony. On 14 September 1985, Penang Bridge is officialy opened to traffic by the fourth Yang di-Pertua Negeri (Governor) of Penang, Tun Dr. Awang Hassan.

Current developments

Penang Bridge Widening Project

When the bridge was originally constructed, the central span had six lanes, while the rest of the bridge had four lanes. There was an ongoing project to have the entire bridge widened to six lanes. Work on the project began on January 2008 and was completed in late 2009.

Design specifications

Bridge

Bridge specifications^[1]

Land expressway

Tun Hussein Onn Highway

The Tun Hussein Onn Highway is an highway within the Penang Bridge. It was named after third Prime Minister, Tun Hussein Onn. This original 3 km highway starts from Jalan Siakap junctions at Seberang Jaya until Perai toll plaza. There are two interchange along the highway including Perai Interchange and Penang Bridge-NSE Interchange

Gelugor Complex Interchange

The Gelugor Complex Interchange is the largest expressway interchange in Malaysia.

Coastline Highway

The 2 km coastline highway (now part of the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway) starts from Gelugor Complex Interchange until Jalan Tengku Kudin Interchange.

Features

The bridge has an emergency layby equppied with SOS phone. Traffic CCTV and Variable Message Sign (VMS) are installed at all locations along the bridge. The bridge has a Tenaga Nasional TNB's 132kV power cable.

Sumber :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penang_Bridge