S.M.A.R.T. Tunnel

The recently opened SMART Tunnel is gonna be toll-free till June 14, 2007. Wondering how smart this tunnel is, I decided to try it during the past weekend. I was travelling from PJ, headed towards my home at Ampang.

The entry point is at the TUDM at Sungai Besi along the North-South highway. I had no idea where it ends exactly, but had a rough idea the exit would be somewhere around the Davis Roundabout (Bulatan Kg. Pandan).Was thinking if the exit is somewhere near there, I'd take the usual Kg. Pandan route back home. But I was wrong...Anyway let's have a look at the tunnel. First thing first, driving thru the tunnel is a bumpy ordeal. At least for my lowered Wiralution RS. Benz and BM's sure no prob la. You see the photos also can feel how bumpy the ride was. Even with Sony's SuperSteadyShot image stabiliser also cannot remove the vibration. How smart! I think they purposely make the road rough so as to prevent accidents, 'coz since you cannot take clear picture while driving you wouldn't bother to take any.It's a narrow two-lane motorway. I didn't see any motorcycles - SMART Tunnel can filter bikes and lorries from entering it. How? Already told you it's a blardy smart tunnel lok!There are some stretches along the tunnel's motorway which seems smartly dangerous to motorists. Some corners/chicanes sweeps real tajam, exit point also a bit cacat clever. If you were travelling on the left lane and enjoying the marvel of concrete art, you'd suddenly realise that the lane leads you to Bukit Bintang towards the end of the tunnel. If you travel in the middle you'll collide head-on with thick concrete dividers. Right lane exits to Jalan Tun Razak.Since my Wiralution got power steering, I managed to swerve to the right just in time to power-slide into the lobang that said "Jalan Tun Razak". Nifty!The speed limit for the tunnel is 60km/h. You can see that I'm abiding the speed limit while snapping photos of the tunnel. Scared what, there's no CCTV in the tunnel. Nobody know I'm driving less than the limit of 60km/h also! So at some instances I slowed my car down to 40km/h, just to see if the tunnel got collapse or not. Since if car travel slower, the weight applied on the tunnel is longer. So more wear and tear. That's why they say limit is 60km/h, cannot less than that one!

So the tunnel ends at Jalan Tun Razak (or Bkt. Bintang), way off Bulatan Kg. Pandan. I had to travel home via Jalan Ampang. Lucky no jam! Damn smart lah the tunnel... Malaysia Boleh!