The East Coast Parkway (Abbreviation: ECP; Chinese: 东海岸公园大道; pinyin: Dōnghǎiàn Gōngyuān Dàdào; Malay: Lebuhraya Taman Pantai Timur) is an expressway that runs along the southeastern coast of Singapore. The expressway is approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) in length, and connects Singapore Changi Airport in the east to the Benjamin Sheares Bridge in the south of the main island before it links with the Ayer Rajah Expressway. It has an interchange with the Pan Island Expressway at the Changi Flyover, about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) from the eastern end of the expressway.
Built almost entirely on reclaimed land, construction of the ECP commenced in the early 1970s. It opened in 1981 to coincide with the opening of Singapore Changi Airport, although there remained traffic lights on the expressway until the completion of the last flyover at Fort Road in 1989. The Benjamin Sheares Bridge was opened at the same time in 1982, and it was extended all the way until it reaches Keppel Road.
Flanked by East Coast Park on one side and high-rise housing on the other, the well-landscaped expressway was built and maintained with the conscious intention of giving visitors arriving via Singapore Changi Airport a good first impression of the country as they commute from the airport to the city centre in less than 15 minutes on a good day.
Traffic congestion during the morning peak hours, however, led to the introduction of an Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantry near the Tanjong Rhu Flyover in the direction towards the city, one of the first two gantries to be set up in the country, which came into operation on 1 April 1998 together with the other gantry at Ophir Road.
A long, straight section of the ECP close to Changi Airport can be used as an emergency landing runway was recently decommissioned. This section can be easily identified by removable potted plants instead of the standard large trees on the median strip.
To facilitate the development of the new downtown, the ECP will be truncated after the Benjamin Sheares Bridge, while the stretch at Marina South area will be realigned and converted to a major arterial road. A new expressway, the Marina Coastal Expressway, will connect the ECP and the Kallang–Paya Lebar Expressway to the Ayer Rajah Expressway and will be built along the coast of Marina South.
Read more about East Coast Parkway: Road Interchanges
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