Dr.

Lim Char Ching

Bridge Forensic Engineering Division
Bridge, Structure and Civil Engineering Branch
PWD Headquarters, Kuala Lumpur

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 Malaysia consists of a Peninsular (West Malaysia)
and northern region of Borneo Island (East Malaysia)
 13 states + 3 Federal Territories
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Jalan Alor
Petaling St.
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Bayan Lepas
Int’l Airport

Klang Port

KL Int’l Airport

Sultan Ismail
Int’l Airport

Tg. Pelepas Port

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 Federal Govt

Ministry of
Works

Malaysian Federal Construction

Highway PWD Industry Dev.
Authority Board

Federal
Toll Roads
Profesional Services
Expressways
Dev. Corporation 6
 State Govt

State PWD Local Authority

State Municipal
Roads Roads

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 NSE

KUALA LUMPUR
GUTHRIE

NKVE GRAND SAGA

SHAH ALAM PETALING JAYA
NPE SUBANG JAYA
CHERAS-KJG
LDP

KLANG KESAS

PORT ELITE

KL INT’L
AIRPORT NSE
Tolled Expressways
in Klang Valley
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Toll Expressway with Dedicated Motorcycle Lane

Toll Expressway – Typical Cross-Section 12

 Expressways are labelled with the letter “E” followed
by a “Number”, for example the code for North-South
Expressway southern route is E 2
 Expressway signages are in white text and on green
colour background.

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Expressways: Facilities and Services

Patrol Unit

VMS System ET System

Rest and Service Area Lay-by 14

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 FEDERAL ROADS STATE ROADS

Roads gazetted under Roads within State but

Federal Road Ordinance. outside jurisdiction of Local
Usually linking State Authority or District Office.
Capitals, Airports, Seaports
and Railway Stations.
Built and maintained by Built and maintained by
Federal Govt. State Govt.

Comply with PWD standard Compy with PWD standard

(R1 – R5 road geometry) (R1 – R5 road geometry)

Total length = 49,900 km Total length = 70,100 km

Max speed limit = 90 km/h Max speed limit = 90 km/h

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 Federal roads are labelled only with “assigned
number”, for example, Federal Route 1 as 1
 Federal road signages are in blue with white text.

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 State roads are labelled with a “state code letter”
followed by “assigned number”, e.g. Route J32 is a
Johor State Road.
 State road signages are in blue with white text.

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Statistics of Malaysian Bridges (2008)
No. Routes Owner Total Bridges

1. Bridges on Federal Federal PWD > 8,500*

Routes in Peninsula
Malaysia
2. Bridges on Federal Sarawak PWD > 900
Routes in Sarawak
3. Bridges on Federal Sabah PWD > 780
Routes in Sabah
4. Bridges on Toll Concessionaires > 560
Expressway
5. Bridges in Kuala Lumpur DBKL > 210
City

* Inclusive of culverts 20
Modern road bridge construction is relatively
new in Malaysia. Many road bridges were
constructed in the early twentieth century.
Between 1920 to 1950, the earliest bridges
were constructed using steel beams and curved
steel plates. They were called steel buckle-plate
bridges. Most popular construction until the late
1950s.

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 Crusher run

Typical Cross-Section Of A
Steel Buckle-Plate Bridge
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Also, many steel truss bridges were built
especially in East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak).

SULTAN ISKANDAR
BRIDGE
Completed in 1932.
Across Perak River.
Federal Route 1.
Longest steel arch
bridge in Malaysia at
285m long.
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Standard reinforced concrete beam bridges
only became common in the 1960s with the
introduction of precast reinforced concrete
beams.
In the 1970s, standard prestressed concrete
beams have been used for many short to
medium span bridges because they are
economical and durable. Span varies from
16.0m to 50.0m long.

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 KUALA BESUT BRIDGE
Completed in 1984. Total
length is 510.0m long. PC
concrete bridge crossing Sg.
Besut in Terengganu.
16 No. simply supported span,
each 31.0m long.

PULAU INDAH BRIDGE

Completed in 1994. Total
length is 1.0km long. PC
concrete bridge to West
Port in Pulau Indah.
25 No. simply supported
span, each 40.0m long. 25
For longer spans, prestressed concrete box
girders have been used, the first of which was
constructed in 1974.

SULTAN YUSSUF BRIDGE

Completed in 1988. Total
length 1.3km long. PC box
girder bridge crossing Sg.
Perak on FT5 near Teluk Intan
town in Perak
Max span length = 160.0m
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The Penang Bridge was the first cable-stayed
bridge built in Malaysia after independence.
Completed in 1985.

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 At 13.5km long, it is currently the fourth longest
bridge in Asia. Main span 225m, vertical
clearance 30m at the centre span for navigation.
 A 2-lane dual carriageway with provision for
extension to 3-lane per carriageway. Work on the
3rd lane has started this year to accommodate for
the increase in traffic volume of >55,000 vehicles
per day in each direction. 28
PENANG BRIDGE DESIGN Acheh Earthquake 2004
CONSIDERATIONS :
 Earthquake magnitude up to 7.5 on the Richter
scale.
 Type HA loading to BS 153 + 45 units HB loading
guided along centreline of each 2-lane carriageway.
 Ship impact load of 1000 kN acting horizontally
through the centreline of the pier and perpendicular
to the longitudinal axis of bridge. 29
Proposed Second Penang Bridge
(2008 – 2011)
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 From 2000 onwards, many cable-stayed bridges
were designed and built over longer spans for
economic and aesthetic reasons.

SG. PERAI BRIDGE

Completed in 2003. Total
length 1.6km long. Cable-
stayed bridge at Butterworth
Outer Ring Road (BORR) in
Penang.
Max span length = 185.0m
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Excerpt from IStructE Structural Award 2006:
“The structure is an eye-catching design both from a
distance and close-up…”
“Sungai Perai Bridge is a superb example of bridge
engineering at its most effective and imaginative – a
landmark structure for the 21st century”

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SERI SAUJANA BRIDGE
Completed in 2002. Single
span 300m long cable-stayed
arch bridge at Putrajaya.
3-lane dual carriageway.
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SERI WAWASAN BRIDGE
Completed in 2003. Single
span futuristic cable-stayed
bridge at Putrajaya.
3-lane dual carriageway. 35
LANGKAWI SKYBRIDGE

Built in 2005
at 700m
above sea
level.
Span 125m
long.

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Engineering practice in Malaysia has been
traditionally based on British Standards. Over the
years, bridges in Malaysia have been designed to:
 BS 153: 1954 (revised in 1972) – based on a
working load and permissible stress method.
 BS 5400: 1978 (revised in 1990, 2005, 2006) –
based on limit state concept.
 JKR Specification for Bridge Live Loads
 BD 37/01 – Loads for Highway Bridges.
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Federal PWD is the custodian of all bridges
on the federal routes in Peninsular Malaysia.
As of 2008, there are 8,500 bridges including
culverts on the federal routes in Peninsular
Malaysia.
Information of all bridges are contained in the
Bridge Management System (BMS) which are
continuously updated through the “Annual
Mandatory Bridge Inspection Program”.

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First developed in 1987 and the framework was
completed in 1990.
Helps to manage all bridges on Federal Routes
more efficiently and effectively.
BMS was built on a micro-based information
system and consisted of 3 major components;
(a) a prioritisation model,
(b) a prediction model, and
(c) a data bank
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Inspection & Assessment of Bridges: Inter-Relation
Between District/State and Federal PWDs
Condition Inspection
By District PWD

Bridge
RFM Branch
Management
(Federal PWD)
System
Maintenance Damage / failure
Confirmatory
Inspection
Replacement

District / State BD, CSBE Branch BF, CSBE Branch

PWD (Federal PWD) (Federal PWD)

Maintenance Design New Rehabilitate

Works Bridge Bridge

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RATING GENERAL DEFINITION
1 No damage found and no maintenance required.

2 Damage detected and it is necessary to record the

condition for observation purposes.
3 Damage detected is slightly critical and thus it is
necessary to implement routine maintenance work.
4 Damage detected is critical and thus it is necessary to
implement repair work or to carry out a detailed
inspection to determine whether any rehabilitation works
are required or not.
5 Being heavily and critically damaged and possibly
affecting the safety of traffic, it is necessary to implement
emergency temporary repair work immediately or
rehabilitation work without delay. 41
Modern commercial vehicles are now capable of
carrying heavier loads than previously allowed.
Consequently, many roads and bridges have to
be upgraded to accommodate for a higher axle-
load limit.
In Malaysia, many federal routes have been
identified for upgrading to 12-tonne single axle-
load capacity.
Between 2006-2010, about 400 sub-standard
bridges have been earmarked for replacement.
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 Existing stock of bridges in Malaysia were designed to
many different bridge design codes.
1970 1985 1990 1996
YEAR

Code ?? BS153 BS5400 JKR BD37/88 (rev 2001)

(HA + HB) (HA + HB) (LTAL +SV) (HA + HB)

Supposing the Federal Road from “A” to “B” is to be

upgraded to 12 tonne single axle load. The capacity of the
bridges has to be evaluated.

A Federal road B
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1. Condition rating of the bridge based on visual
inspection.
2. Hydraulic capacity of the bridge based on flood
discharge corresponding to a 100-year return
period.
3. The existing bridge capacity based on structural
analysis.

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