History
Construction began in 1909 by the British, after the Treaty of Bangkok. The British constructed main roads to link their possessions in Malaya. Among other roads are Federal Route on the east coast and Federal Route linking the east and west coasts. Federal Route 1 is approximately 826.6 kilometres (514 mi), and stretches from Thailand to Singapore.
The road grew in importance as it connected most of the state capitals on the west coast (except Perlis and Malacca), and as a result, numerous towns grew along its path. By the 1980s, the highway was bogged down with severe congestion, and the present North-South Expressway was built as a more efficient alternative, bypassing the many towns which the Federal Route 1 serves.
Much of the road remains in use, although in September 2009, portions of the road to north of Ipoh were temporarily closed to facilitate double tracking and electrification along the Ipoh-Padang Besar railway line.
Read more about this topic: Malaysia Federal Route 1
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The only history is a mere question of one’s struggle inside oneself. But that is the joy of it. One need neither discover Americas nor conquer nations, and yet one has as great a work as Columbus or Alexander, to do.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“In the history of the human mind, these glowing and ruddy fables precede the noonday thoughts of men, as Aurora the sun’s rays. The matutine intellect of the poet, keeping in advance of the glare of philosophy, always dwells in this auroral atmosphere.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I feel as tall as you.”
—Ellis Meredith, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 14, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)