Singapore's expressways
Singapore has an extensive 163km freeway network serving the tiny island of 5 million residents. By far, its system exceeds anything of any Australian city, an example of simply great planning by the Singapore government which has facilitated the growth of Singapore as a country.
Singapore uses a unique three-letter naming system for its expressways rather than the route numbers of Australia.
The first letter of the first syllable is first taken. The first letter of the second syllable is then taken. Finally, an E for expressway is added.
One example is the CTE; Central Expressway. This freeway runs from the AYE to the SLE, linking the city to the northern part of Singapore. By following the rule, the 1st syllable's letter, ''Cen'', is C. The 2nd syllable's first letter, ''Tral'', is T. Finally, an E is added for expressway.
There are exceptions to this rule, however, for example MCE which should then be MRE (''Ma'' and ''Ri''), however the LTA decided that MCE would be easier to say and stress the importance of the freeway as a coastal route (hence the C).
Singapore is adding yet another freeway to its vast network; the North South Expressway (NSE). It's amazing to think that part of this freeway will be a surface road, even in such a densely populated country, especially considering that the WestConnex in Sydney will be entirely underground. Astonishingly no Singaporeans have complained about the NSE online from what I can tell; the completely opposite for the WestConnex.
This is a map of Singapore's road network. The small dashed lines indicate a tunnel. The orange dashed line represents the NSE under construction. You can see how the expressways almost match the coastline of the country. Only the ECP ends at a dead end (although the NSE eventually will too), showing the forwards thinking of the government for a free-flowing network.
Singapore uses a unique three-letter naming system for its expressways rather than the route numbers of Australia.
The first letter of the first syllable is first taken. The first letter of the second syllable is then taken. Finally, an E for expressway is added.
One example is the CTE; Central Expressway. This freeway runs from the AYE to the SLE, linking the city to the northern part of Singapore. By following the rule, the 1st syllable's letter, ''Cen'', is C. The 2nd syllable's first letter, ''Tral'', is T. Finally, an E is added for expressway.
There are exceptions to this rule, however, for example MCE which should then be MRE (''Ma'' and ''Ri''), however the LTA decided that MCE would be easier to say and stress the importance of the freeway as a coastal route (hence the C).
Singapore is adding yet another freeway to its vast network; the North South Expressway (NSE). It's amazing to think that part of this freeway will be a surface road, even in such a densely populated country, especially considering that the WestConnex in Sydney will be entirely underground. Astonishingly no Singaporeans have complained about the NSE online from what I can tell; the completely opposite for the WestConnex.
This is a map of Singapore's road network. The small dashed lines indicate a tunnel. The orange dashed line represents the NSE under construction. You can see how the expressways almost match the coastline of the country. Only the ECP ends at a dead end (although the NSE eventually will too), showing the forwards thinking of the government for a free-flowing network.
In September 2016 I went to Singapore on a holiday, and figured I'd take some photos of the road signs.
There are several things I must note about Singapore's road signage.
Singapore have some interesting abbreviations on their road signs.
Tg means Tanjong, Kg means Kallang, Bt means Bukit and Jln means Jalan. There are several others, but these are the only ones on any of the signs below.
There are captions on each sign so be sure to click and read them. Hopefully I will add another update soon which actually explains the layout of these signs. For now, enjoy these pics!
There are several things I must note about Singapore's road signage.
Singapore have some interesting abbreviations on their road signs.
Tg means Tanjong, Kg means Kallang, Bt means Bukit and Jln means Jalan. There are several others, but these are the only ones on any of the signs below.
There are captions on each sign so be sure to click and read them. Hopefully I will add another update soon which actually explains the layout of these signs. For now, enjoy these pics!
September 2016 Photos (sorry for poor quality)-
Any general comments or impressions about Singapore's expressways? Leave them in the comments below.