Notable features

Its main features include the Penang Bridge which is Malaysia's second longest bridge, Sungai Perak Bridge (Jambatan Sultan Azlan Shah), Menora Tunnel and the North-South Expressway Monument at Rawang Rest and Service Area (R&R) (North bound).

The Gopeng-Tapah section is the most expensive section of the North-South Expressway network. It can be considered as a dangerous stretches.

There are two dangerous stretches along the expressway, the Changkat Jering-Ipoh North (Jelapang) and Gopeng-Tapah sections.

The Gopeng Rural Transformation Centre (RTC) Rest and Service Area (RSA) is the first expressway RTC rest and service area in Malaysia. The RTC rest and service area is located near Simpang Pulai Layby north bound of the North–South Expressway Northern Route.

Restricted routes for heavy vehicles

During workdays or peak hours. There is a restricted routes at the North–South Expressway Northern Route from Rawang (South) to Bukit Lanjan. Heavy vehicles (except buses and tankers) with laden and unladen heavy vehicles weighing 10,000 kg or more are not allowed to enter the expressway between 6:30 am until 9:30 am on Monday to Friday (except public holidays). A compound fines will be issued to heavy vehicles which flouted the rule.

Kuala Lumpur-Penang Through Traffic (Ipoh North (Jelapang) - Ipoh South local-express lanes)

The Jelapang and Ipoh South toll plazas were demolished in 2009 to make a non-stop route across Ipoh. This was achieved through the construction of two local-express lanes for each side, which are only accessible via Exit 138 Ipoh South Exit (for northbound traffic) and Exit 141 Ipoh North Exit (for southbound traffic). The toll plazas in Ipoh were therefore relocated at each ends of the local-express lanes.

Upon approaching either of the two exits, the exit signs showing Ipoh are written in large typefaces in contrast with the standard exit signs, to remind highway users especially northbound drivers intending to enter Ipoh via Exit 138 Ipoh South Exit, as the next exit is Exit 143 Kuala Kangsar Exit, covering a lengthy distance of 34-kilometre (21 mi) between these two exits, whilst passing through the Menora Tunnel.

The decision to demolish both toll plazas was made as a result of accidents which happened at Jelapang toll plaza. Since the toll plaza was opened on 28 September 1987, there were many accident cases which involved brake failure in heavy vehicles due to difficult braking when proceeding downhill to the toll plaza. On 7 June 2008, the new Ipoh North toll plaza (South bound) replacing old Jelapang toll plaza opened to traffic, followed by north bound on 15 August 2008. Beginning 11:00 am on 14 July 2009, the Kuala Lumpur-Penang tolled section opened to traffic. With the opening of the 14.7-kilometre (9.1 mi) between Ipoh North (Jelapang) and Ipoh South stretch, highway users no longer stop for toll transactions at the Ipoh North and Ipoh South Toll Plazas.~ The runaway truck ramp is also provided in two locations in Jelapang and Menora.

Six-lane widening works

Exit 117 Sungai Buaya Interchange

An interchange at Sungai Buaya, Selangor, between Rawang and Bukit Beruntung Interchange was constructed between 2011 and 2013. This new interchange was opened to traffic on 10 January 2014.

Exit 152 Alor Pongsu Interchange

An interchange at Alor Pongsu, Perak, between Bandar Baharu and Bukit Merah Interchange was opened on 7 June 2016.

Fourth lane addition

In July 2010, the operator, PLUS Expressways, announced that the government had awarded contracts to build a fourth lane on a stretch from Rawang to Jalan Duta. The construction was completed in late 2015.

Exit 158 of expressway

The zeroth kilometer point of the entire expressway is located at the Malaysia-Thailand border.

Bukit Kayu Hitam to Sungai Dua, Butterworth

The expressway begins at the Bukit Kayu Hitam checkpoint in Kedah, where across the border in Thailand the road continues as Phetkasem Road. The expressway proceeds southwards concurrently along the old Federal Route 1, which has not been upgraded and is still a limited-access road. The first grade-separated interchange, which is with route 194, provides access to the northwestern state of Perlis. The route then enters the heart of the town of Changlun, where it intersects with a few local roads with traffic lights. South from the town are several rural villages with residential roads intersecting with the expressway.

Just to the north of the town of Jitra, route 1 continues southwards while the expressway bends southeast to bypass the said town, marking the end of the concurrency and the start of the controlled-access highway proper. Just to the east of the town is the Jitra Toll Plaza, where a one-time payment is made. After the toll plaza the expressway continues southwest, entering the district of Kota Setar and interchanging with route 1 near Kepala Batas. Shortly south is the Hutan Kampung Toll Plaza, where ticket tolling begins. The expressway runs east of the city of Alor Setar, where it makes two interchanges with the Sultanah Bahiyah Highway (route 255), both leading to aforementioned city.

Past the city, route 1 returns to run parallel to the expressway, both running southeasterly to enter the district of Pendang, where the expressway interchanges with a local route leading east to the town of the same name. Proceeding southeast, the expressway enters the Kuala Muda district. It interchanges once in Gurun, bends southwest, then interchanges twice again near Sungai Petani, once to the northeast of the town and once to the southeast. The expressway crosses the bridge over the Muda River, which marks the border between the states of Kedah and Penang. The expressway reaches the town of Bertam, where route 1 deviates westwards from parallelism with the expressway. Further southwest is the Sungai Dua Toll Plaza, where the ticket system ends and the toll-free section begins. The expressway interchanges south of the plaza, just to the west of Sungai Dua. This interchange marks one terminus of the Butterworth Outer Ring Road (expressway 17), which goes west towards Bagan Ajam. After this interchange the expressway widens to six lanes and the urban speed limit of 90 km/h applies. The expressway then crosses the Perai River.^[2]

Butterworth and Bandar Baharu

From this point the expressway enters Seberang Perai Tengah, running southwesterly along the east side of Butterworth, where it makes several important interchanges, including Jalan Permatang Pauh (route 3111) leading to Permatang Pauh, the Butterworth–Kulim Expressway (expressway 15) towards Kulim and Gerik in Kedah, expressway 17 and route 1 in Perai (this is where the other end of E17 is located) as well as the Penang Bridge (expressway 36) towards the island and capital. Here the expressway bends southeast away from the coast, going towards and interchanging at the Perai Industrial Area and Juru. After Juru, the road narrows back to four lanes, followed by the Juru Toll Plaza, where the second ticket system begins. The expressway then enters Seberang Perai Selatan.

The expressway interchanges with route 149 at Bukit Tambun, connecting several industrial areas nearby. Close by at Batu Kawan, the Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge (expressway 28) terminates on this expressway, connecting Bandar Cassia as well as the southwest district on the island. The last interchange in Penang is with route 1 at Jawi. The expressway then briefly re-enters the state of Kedah to interchange at Bandar Baharu, serving itself, Parit Buntar just across the border at Perak, as well as the rest of southernmost Kedah.^[2]

Alor Pongsu to Ipoh

Across the Kerian River is the Kerian district in Perak, where a new interchange with route 147 at Alor Pongsu is being constructed. The expressway then briefly winds eastwards, then southwards, to meet Bukit Merah. The expressway continues directly southwards into Larut, Matang dan Selama, interchanging again with route 1 as well as 3146 to the northwest of Taiping. Gently, the expressway winds southeast towards Changkat Jering, where it interchanges with route 60. From here, the expressway heads east through a cutting where the expressway and route 1 briefly run side by side. The route continues towards the district and town of Kuala Kangsar, interchanging at the terminus of route 76, which plies the rural areas of central northern Perak.

The Menora Tunnel

At this point route 1 deviates northwards to go around a hill that is part of the Tenasserim Hills cluster. The expressway proceeds towards the hill, going across the Perak River below the Sultan Azlan Shah Bridge. After the river the expressway goes uphill, through the Menora Tunnel that is about 800 metres (870 yards) long, then downhill into the Kinta Valley. Here, the Ipoh local-express system, constructed in 2008, begins, where all traffic bound for Ipoh or its vicinity is segregated. Southbound commuters entering the local lanes pay the toll/tap out of the ticket system at the Ipoh North Toll Plaza, while northbound motorists merging in from the local lanes collect the ticket/tap into the system. Proceeding southeast through the heart of Ipoh, the expressway's local lanes interchange with several local roads as well as route 1, which begins to run parallel to the expressway again. The system ends to the south of Tambun, where commuters on the southbound local lanes collect their tickets or tap into the system at the Ipoh South Toll Plaza, while northbound motorists entering the local lanes pay their tolls.^[2]

Simpang Pulai to Bukit Lanjan

Leaving the city, the expressway bends southwest to close the gap between the two parallel routes, effectively interchanging with the route at Simpang Pulai. Bending back southeast the expressway interchanges again with route 1 at the town of Gopeng after crossing into the Kampar district. The expressway then cuts through another hill, passing by Gua Tempurung (a cave). The cutting ends in the Batang Padang district just before the next interchange at Tapah with route 59, which connects directly to Cameron Highlands. Heading southwards, the expressway interchanges with a local road at Bidor. Further south within the same district, the expressway interchanges with route 1 thrice – at Sungkai, Slim River and Behrang.

While going southeast, the expressway crosses the Bernam River into the state of Selangor. Despite this, the next interchange, the final one with route 1, mainly serves Tanjung Malim over in the previous state. From this point, route 1 leaves the vicinity of the expressway as the expressway goes southwards and the federal route goes southeast. The expressway interchanges with several rural roads at Lembah Beringin, Bukit Tagar, the Bukit Beruntung industrial area and at Sungai Buaya. Going southwards, the expressway leaves the Hulu Selangor district into the Gombak district, where it interchanges near the Rawang industrial area with route 3209. Shortly after, the Guthrie Corridor Expressway (expressway 35) begins as an interchange on this expressway. On the last segment, the expressway interchanges with a road next to the Sungai Buloh Hospital, crosses into the Petaling district, interchanges with the Sungai Buloh Highway (route 54) at Sungai Buloh, and finally terminates at its interchange with the New Klang Valley Expressway (which is also designated the route number E1) near Segambut in the north-western part of the Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur.^[2]

Toll rates

Emergency assistance and information services

Orange emergency telephones/callboxes are located every two kilometres along the entire expressway, as with every other expressway in the PLUS expressway network.^[1] Alternatively, commuters may dial the toll-free number 1 800 88 0000 on their mobile phones. Both will connect to the PLUS traffic monitoring centre in Subang where commuters may request for traffic information or roadside assistance.^[10] The highway patrol and roadside assistance teams are known as PLUSRonda. They provide free first responder services including small fixes for broken down vehicles, towing and also act as traffic police when there is an incident.^[11] They are also given auxiliary police powers.^[1]

PLUS also provides traffic information to commuters through variable-message signs located on some sections of the expressway, and on Twitter @plustrafik in Malay.^[1][12] Major radio stations in Peninsular Malaysia also broadcast traffic updates for the expressway.

Rest areas

The North–South Expressway northern route has 12 full rest areas (which includes one overhead bridge restaurant), 23 laybys and one vista point (scenic area) total along both directions of the expressway. Every rest area and layby includes, as a bare minimum, car parks and public toilets. Most laybys also include public telephones and a small rest hut. Depending on location, laybys can also include petrol stations, a surau, and rarely, food courts, independently operated restaurants as well as automated teller machines. Full rest and service areas have all of the above services and are much larger, so they can accommodate more services. Several rest areas also have small inns, and most have complimentary Wi-Fi services.^[13][14] Vista points only have car parks and is meant for commuters to enjoy the scenery at that location.^[15] Laybys are found every 25 to 50 kilometres, while full rest areas are found every 80 to 100 kilometres. The only vista point on this expressway is in Ipoh.

Toll-free local-express lanes section (Ipoh North – Ipoh South)

Km	Exit	Interchange	To	Remarks
	141	Ipoh North Toll Plaza Exit	North North–South Expressway Northern Route AH2 North-South Expressway Northern Route Maximum height limit 4.5 m Alor Star (Langkawi Island) Penang Kuala Kangsar	Enter/Exit the tolled expressway
North–South Expressway Northern Route AH2 North–South Expressway Northern Route Toll free local-express lanes (Ipoh North (Jelapang) - Ipoh South) Start/End of toll free local-express lanes sections
FT 240 0 FT 239 -- North–South Expressway Northern Route 268.7	4 (141)	Meru Raya Interchange (Jelapang Interchange) PMR	A1 Jelapang FT 1 Ipoh FT 5 Lumut FT 5 Pulau Pangkor	Parcelo interchange with toll plaza North bound
Ipoh North toll plaza IPU MyRFID Touch 'n Go SmartTAG North bound Closed toll system Collect PLUSTransit cards only
Ipoh North toll plaza IPU SmartTAG Touch 'n Go MyRFID South bound Closed toll system Pay a distance toll only
		Ipoh North toll plaza IPU TnG TAG Customer Service Centre	TnG TAG Customer Service Centre	South bound
FT 240 -- FT 239 --	4 (141)	Meru Raya Interchange) (Jelapang Interchange) PMR	North Persiaran Meru Raya Bandar Meru Raya A1 Jelapang FT 1 Ipoh FT 5 Lumut FT 5 Pulau Pangkor	Diamond interchange
FT 240 -- FT 239 -- North–South Expressway Northern Route 271 AH2 ---	3 (140)	Ipoh North Interchange IPU	North FT 1 Chemor FT 1 Bercham FT 1 Sungai Siput South FT 1 Ipoh city centre	Cloverleaf interchange
FT 240 -- FT 239 -- North–South Expressway Northern Route 272.8		Railway crossing bridge
FT 240 -- FT 239 -- North–South Expressway Northern Route 273 AH2 ---		Sungai Kinta Bridge
FT 240 -- FT 239 -- North–South Expressway Northern Route 276 AH2 ---	2(139)	Ipoh South Interchange IPS	FT 1 Ipoh A13 Sungai Siput A13 Tanjung Rambutan Hospital Bahagia	Trumpet interchange
FT 240 -- FT 239 -- North–South Expressway Northern Route 276.2	1 (138)	Tambun Interchange TBN	FT 1 Ipoh A13 Tambun A13 Tanjung Rambutan Hospital Bahagia	Parcelo interchange
FT 240 -- FT 239 -- North–South Expressway Northern Route 278 AH2 ---
FT 240 -- FT 239 0 North–South Expressway Northern Route 280 AH2 ---		Ipoh South toll plaza IPS TnG TAG Customer Service Centre	TnG TAG Customer Service Centre	North bound
Ipoh South toll plaza IPS MyRFID Touch 'n Go SmartTAG North bound Closed toll system Pay a distance toll only
281.1
Ipoh South toll plaza IPS SmartTAG Touch 'n Go MyRFID South bound Closed toll system Collect PLUSTransit cards only
North–South Expressway Northern Route AH2 North–South Expressway Northern Route Toll free local-express lanes (Ipoh North (Jelapang) - Ipoh South) Start/End of toll free local-express lanes sections
	138	Ipoh South Toll Plaza Exit	South North–South Expressway Northern Route AH2 North-South Expressway Northern Route Kuala Lumpur Simpang Pulai	Enter/Exit the tolled expressway