SMART Tunnel to Open for Traffic in MarchKuala Lumpur city centre is flooded by water from the Klang River with increasing frequency when it rains heavily. Traffic grinds to a standstill and cars are submerged in underground car parks. On the overloaded ring roads, cars crawl for hours when a flood occurs. Studies indicated that the critical stretch between the confluence of the Klang and Ampang rivers and the confluence of the Gombak and Klang rivers to be areas prone to floods.Construction of the river banks made it impossible to widen the flood plains. The only feasible method of flood control is to tap the water upstream and divert part of the water before it enters the critical area. The solution was to build a large, 11.83 m-inner diameter 9.7 km-long tunnel to store and divert large volumes of flood water. The flood water is diverted at the confluence of the Klang and Ampang rivers into a holding pond. From there, the water will flow through the tunnel into a storage reservoir at Taman Desa before discharging into the Kerayong river. This will reduce the flood water level at the Jalan Tun Perak bridge, preventing spill-over.The 9.7 km-long tunnel holds a 3 km dual-purpose bypass tunnel running from Jalan Pudu to Jalan Chan Sow Lin which accommodates a double-decker motorway and below that, a water underpass to channel the water to Taman Desa.The MYR1.9 billion SMART project is being constructed by a 50-50 joint venture between MMC and Gamuda with the Department of Irrigation and Drainage and the Malaysian Highway Authority as the executing government agencies. The water passage is financed by the government while Syarikat Konsesi Smart, the concessionaire of the motorway tunnel, bears the cost of the traffic tunnel. Gamuda, who teamed up with MMC to build the world's first dual-use stormwater and road tunnel, may consider proposing to the government to build similar projects in other parts of Malaysia. The project is already 94% completed since construction commenced on 1st January, 2003. Visit www.smarttunnel.com.myTwo Herrenknecht slurry TBMs have been used to bore the 13.26 m outer-diameter tunnel. Only 500 metres of drilling work remains for the tunnel. ‘Gemilang’, the second TBM, broke through in April 2006. Click here. The first TBM, ‘Tuah’, is currently operating northward of the city and will penetrate the area in front of the flood retention pond in Kampong Berembang at the end of March or early April. The three crews are working in a six-days on / three-days off pattern, manning two 12-hour shifts seven days a week. Click here. The cover thickness above the tunnel is about 1 to 1.5 tunnel diameter. 95% of the SMART scheme is built by TBM with the remaining 5% by way of the cut-and-cover method. Read E-News Weekly 3/2006, 39/2005, 26/2005, 3/2005 & 9/2004. Visit www.herrenknecht.comStormwater managementThe stormwater tunnel has a storage capacity of 1 million cubic metres while the total storage capacity of SMART is 3 million cubic metres. The operation of the SMART system works on the three-principle mode of operation based on the flood discharge at the Klang River / Ampang River confluence and the operation status of the motorway. The project is capable of holding major floods that may strike once in 100 years and it is expected to run Mode 3 operations (closing the motorway to store and discharge flood waters) two to three times a year. The flash flood system is due to be commissioned in June as scheduled.In Mode 1, under normal condition where there is no storm or low rainfall, no flood water will be diverted into the system. When Mode 2 is activated during moderate storms, flood water is diverted into the bypass tunnel in the lower channel of the motorway tunnel and it is important to note, that, up to this stage, the motorway section is still open to traffic.At Mode 3 of operation during major storms, the motorway will be closed to traffic. Sufficient time will be allocated by the concessionaire to alert the motorway, clear the traffic before it is shut and allow the last vehicle to exit the motorway before the automated watertight gates are opened to allow flood water to pass through. The system will not run until traffic is 100% cleared from the tunnel. In this event, the full cross section of the tunnel is available for water storage and diversion. The motorway will be reopened to traffic within 48 hours after the closure. Toll roadIn the bored tunnel, the double deck structure consists of the lower and upper decks. The lower deck traffic flows towards north whilst the upper deck traffic flows towards south. The clear width from kerb to kerb is 8.85 m, with sufficient clear width for a fast lane, slow lane and emergency lane. The two traffic lanes are 3.25 m wide and the emergency lane is 2.20 m wide. There is also a 0.15 m marginal strip.The SMART project is linked by ingress and egress connections to three roads, namely Jalan Sungai Besi next to the Royal Malaysian Air Force airport, Jalan Sultan Ismail beside Berjaya Time Square and Jalan Tun Razak opposite the RHB complex.The world’s first two-in-one tunnel provides an alternative for motorists to escape the infamous Jalan Tun Razak jams to go south to join the highway to Seremban, and for those from the Seremban-Kuala Lumpur highway to go to the city centre. Motorists using the tunnel will also be able to avoid congestion in Jalan Sungai Besi. The opening of the route will be a boon to about 200,000 people who travel daily from Sungai Besi to Kuala Lumpur, shortening travel time to the city centre from Sungai Besi from 30 minutes to merely five minutes. The road tunnel will be opened to traffic by 30th March, 2007. The SMART motorway will be using an open toll system. Motorists will have a one month toll-free ride along the newly constructed tunnel. Tunnel safetyThe completed 3 km two-storey motorway is being installed with road signs and safety features such as closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and communication facilities so that the road users will be able to receive radio and mobile phone signals. The motorway portion will also be equipped with fire fighting, telecommunication and surveillance equipment at 1 km intervals. At present, the test run is being carried out on safety features such as the ventilation system and CCTV. The emergency lane in the upper and lower decks will be always located on the left-hand side.Four shafts at 1 km intervals divide the road tunnel into three approximately 1 km-long sections and have different functions. At the ends of the highway tunnel, the Y-shaped shafts (north and south junction boxes) allow bifurcation of the highway and water sections and house a double set of watertight steel gates that drop down in a guillotine style. The first gate, the emergency gate, weighs 40 tonnes, stands 7 m high and is 9.5 m wide. The upper and lower deck service gates that lie behind each emergency gate are each 26 tonnes, 4 m high and 9.5 m wide. Flood water is prevented from rising to the surface along the ingress and egress road tunnels by rotating roll-on roll-off type hydraulically operated gates. These are 3.3 m-high and 13.1 m-wide hinged flap gates, each weighing 37 tonnes. A convoy of journalists trying out the newly constructed Smart Tunnel yesterday These shafts also include major ventilation structures, which are also found at the two intermediate shafts, the north and south ventilation shafts. The four ventilation structures are about 20 m x 30 m in plan and 42 m tall, with 12 m being above ground and 30 m below ground. Each provides emergency access and egress to the surface via stairs and fire fighter lifts. At each ventilation shaft, fresh air is injected into the road decks from above ground through Soccardo nozzles and is extracted at the adjacent shafts. These powerful air ventilators will constantly renew the air and maintain the air quality within the motorway. Should there be a fire, the ducts can supply 105 cu m/s at a speed of 20 m/s at the nozzle faces, forcing smoke away from the incident, in the direction of traffic flow. The ventilation shafts also double up as escape staircases to the surface. Cross passages allowing access to the other road deck are built at about every 250 metres. Electrical compartment chambers provide a dry environment to equipment that cannot be submerged.The SMART system will be controlled by an operational control centre complete with administration, supervision, stormwater management and traffic management facilities for management, operation, surveillance and maintenance.ConclusionThe Drainage and Irrigation Department and the Federal Territory Amateur Athletes Association will organise the "SMART Tunnel Run 2007" on 11th March. The SMART project will be featured for the second time on Discovery Channel. The 45 mn documentary will be televised on Astro's Channel 50 on 18th February at 9 pm and repeated on 19th February at 3 am and 2 pm. The unique and innovative project was initially featured on Discovery Channel at the end of August last year during Malaysia's National Day celebrations. Click my/16. 08/07.