smart tunnel
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
Case Study (Mixed Use Tunnel)
Project Summary:
Malaysia is a federation of thirteen states and three federal territories, located on the Malay
Peninsula south of Thailand and the northwest portion of the island of Borneo. The country is home to over 27 million people, with roughly 1.6 million people living in the capital city of
Kuala Lumpur, which is situated in the southwest part of Peninsular Malaysia and covers 244 square kilometers. The entire Greater Kuala Lumpur metropolitan area has a population of over
7 million people.
Kuala Lumpur has witnessed rapid population and economic growth since the early 1980s.
However, one result of this growth has been a marked increase in flash flooding in the area, occurring almost annually. The urbanization of Kuala Lumpur has encroached on the Klang and
Gombak rivers, which merge in the center of the city. The average annual flooding for the Klang
River has increased nearly 300 percent, from about 148 cubic meters per second before 1985 to
440 cubic meters per second since 1985.
The Malaysian government has monitored the situation since the early 1970s, and responded with the development the Klang River Basin Flood Mitigation Project. The government has attempted to control flooding by creating holding ponds and increasing river channel capacity, but this has had only limited success. In 2001, the government sought proposals for a more effective solution to flooding, to prevent disruption to the city’s center during a typical flood event , with a duration of three to six hours. The original idea was for a tunnel to divert and store the storm water, but the idea progressed into the concept of a mixed-use tunnel that would allow traffic flow when the tunnel was empty of water. One factor in this evolution was that for liability reasons, the tunnel had to run below government-owned land, which led planners to consider locating the tunnel beneath a road. This led to the idea of
Case Study (Mixed Use Tunnel)
Project Summary:
Malaysia is a federation of thirteen states and three federal territories, located on the Malay
Peninsula south of Thailand and the northwest portion of the island of Borneo. The country is home to over 27 million people, with roughly 1.6 million people living in the capital city of
Kuala Lumpur, which is situated in the southwest part of Peninsular Malaysia and covers 244 square kilometers. The entire Greater Kuala Lumpur metropolitan area has a population of over
7 million people.
Kuala Lumpur has witnessed rapid population and economic growth since the early 1980s.
However, one result of this growth has been a marked increase in flash flooding in the area, occurring almost annually. The urbanization of Kuala Lumpur has encroached on the Klang and
Gombak rivers, which merge in the center of the city. The average annual flooding for the Klang
River has increased nearly 300 percent, from about 148 cubic meters per second before 1985 to
440 cubic meters per second since 1985.
The Malaysian government has monitored the situation since the early 1970s, and responded with the development the Klang River Basin Flood Mitigation Project. The government has attempted to control flooding by creating holding ponds and increasing river channel capacity, but this has had only limited success. In 2001, the government sought proposals for a more effective solution to flooding, to prevent disruption to the city’s center during a typical flood event , with a duration of three to six hours. The original idea was for a tunnel to divert and store the storm water, but the idea progressed into the concept of a mixed-use tunnel that would allow traffic flow when the tunnel was empty of water. One factor in this evolution was that for liability reasons, the tunnel had to run below government-owned land, which led planners to consider locating the tunnel beneath a road. This led to the idea of