The Penang Bridge Penang Bridge is a 13.5-kilometre (8.4-mile) dual carriageway toll bridge and controlled-access highway in the state of Penang, Malaysia. The bridge connects Perai on the mainland side of the state with Gelugor on the island, crossing the Penang Strait. The bridge was the first and, until 2014, the only road connection between the peninsula and the island. The bridge is the second-longest bridge over water in Malaysia, with a length over water of 8.4 kilometres (5.2 miles).

The bridge was inaugurated on 14 September 1985. The current concession holder and maintainer of the bridge is PLUS Expressways. Penang Bridge Sdn Bhd was the concession holder before it was merged with the current concessionaire.

History

Chronology

Date	Event
Early 1970s	The idea to build a bridge linking Seberang Perai to Penang Island was suggested by the late Tun Abdul Razak, the second Prime Minister of Malaysia and the late Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu, the second Chief Minister of Penang.
23 July 1981	Works Minister, S. Samy Vellu announced that Penang Bridge, Penang would be constructed using the cable-stayed concrete girder of the San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge instead of the steel-tied arch in the style of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
1982	Construction of Penang Bridge officially began.
3 August 1985	Official opening of Penang Bridge by fourth Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir.
14 September 1985	Penang Bridge is officially opened to traffic.

Penang Bridge Widening Project

When the bridge was initially constructed, the central span had six lanes, while the rest of the bridge had four lanes. The project to widen the entire bridge to six lanes began in January 2008 and was completed in late 2009.

Features

Penang Bridge has an overall length of 13.5 km (8.4 mi): 8.4 km (5.2 mi) above water, 1.5 km (0.93 mi) on Penang Island and 3.6 km (2.2 mi) in Prai. The 225 m main span is 33 m above water, held up by four 101.5 m towers. The carriageway has 3 lanes in each direction and a speed limit of 70–80 km/h.

The bridge has an emergency layby equipped with SOS phone. Traffic CCTV and Variable Message Sign (VMS) are installed at all locations along the bridge. The bridge carries a Tenaga Nasional 132kV power cable.

Tolls

Since 1985, the Penang Bridge has been a tolled bridge. Fees are charged only at one direction, when entering the bridge from the mainland and travelling towards Penang Island. There are no fees imposed for mainland-bound motorists coming from the island. Since 1994, the tolls have been collected by a private concession company, Penang Bridge Sdn Bhd, which has become a member company of PLUS Malaysia Berhad. Beginning 1 January 2019, toll collection for motorcyclists was abolished for both Penang bridges. The price used to be RM1.40. Since then, the toll canopy for motorcyclists was converted into a layby for motorcyclists.

Electronic toll collection

As part of an initiative to facilitate faster transactions at the Perai Toll Plaza, all toll transactions at this toll plaza on the Penang Bridge have been exclusively conducted via electronic toll collection with the use of Touch 'n Go cards and SmartTAGs since 9 September 2015.

Fares

(Since 1 February 2020)

Class	Types of vehicles	Rate (in Malaysian Ringgit (RM))
1	Motorcycles (Vehicles with two axles and two wheels)	Free
2	Cars & Motorcycles with sidecars (Vehicles with two axles and three or four wheels (including station wagons and commercial vehicles))	5.74
3A	Vans and & Buses (Vehicles with two axles and four wheels (excluding lorries))	9.84
3B	Lorries (Vehicles with two axles and four wheels (excluding vans and buses))	12.00
4A	Vans & Buses (Vehicles with two axles and five or six wheels (excluding trucks))	20.50
4B	Large Trucks (Vehicles with two axles and five or six wheels (excluding vans and buses))	25.00
5A	Buses (Vehicles with three axles (excluding trucks))	36.90
5B	Large Trucks (Vehicles with three axles (excluding buses))	45.00
6	Large Trucks (Vehicles with four axles)	60.00
7	Large Trucks (Vehicles with five or more axles)	75.00

List of interchange

This section is missing kilometre posts for junctions. Please help by adding them.

km	Exit	Interchange	To	Remarks
			North–South Expressway Northern Route AH2 North-South Expressway Northern Route North Alor Setar Permatang Pauh Seberang Jaya
North–South Expressway Northern Route AH2 North-South Expressway Northern Route
Penang Bridge AH2 Penang Bridge (Tun Hussein Onn Highway)
Penang Bridge 0		Perai Interchange	Northwest Butterworth Outer Ring Road FT 1 Butterworth Outer Ring Road FT 1 Perai FT 1 Butterworth Southeast FT 1 Butterworth-Kulim Highway FT 1 Bukit Mertajam	Parcelo cloverleaf interchange
		Railway crossing bridge
	Penang Bridge Interchange	3601A North–South Expressway Northern Route AH2 North-South Expressway Northern Route South Kuala Lumpur Ipoh Bukit Tambun 3601B FT 3112 Jalan Perusahan Perai Northwest Perai Industrial Area Southeast Juru	3601A Stacked expressway interchange 3601B Cloverleaf interchange
Penang Bridge AH2 Penang Bridge (Tun Hussein Onn Highway)
Penang Bridge Penang Bridge
		U-Turn	U-TURN Penang Bridge Tun Hussein Onn Highway Perai Butterworth TnG TAG Customer Service Centre
Perai toll plaza (PLAZA A) (Enter bridge only) PBSB SmartTAG Touch 'n Go TnG POS MyRFID Opened toll system Pay toll Light and heavy vehicles only
Perai toll plaza (PLAZA B) (Enter bridge only) PBSB SmartTAG Touch 'n Go TnG POS MyRFID Opened toll system Pay toll Light and heavy vehicles only
		Perai toll plaza PBSB	TnG TAG Customer Service Centre	Enter bridge only
		U-Turn	U-TURN Penang Bridge Penang Bridge George Town Bayan Lepas TnG TAG Customer Service Centre
		Penang Bridge Length Over Water: 8.4 kilometres
	3602A 3602B 3602C	Gelugor-Penang Bridge Interchange	3602B West FT 6 Gelugor Highway Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) Regional Office Jelutong Gelugor Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) FT 3113 Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway (Bayan Lepas Expressway) 3602C North George Town/ Weld Quay Air Itam Batu Feringgi Penang Hospital 3602A South Batu Maung Bayan Lepas Industrial Area Penang International Airport Jerejak Island (Jetty)	Stacked expressway Interchange
		Tesco Penang
	3602C North	Jalan Tengku Kudin Interchange	WEST P19 Penang Middle Ring Road Jalan Yengku Kudin Gelugor Batu Feringgi Tanjung Bungah Air Itam Penang Hospital	Interchange from/to Penang Bridge and Bayan Lepas only
Penang Bridge Penang Bridge ( FT 3113 Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway) (Bayan Lepas Expressway) PBSB border limit
FT 3113 Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway (Jelutong Expressway) JKR and MPPP border limit
			North FT 3113 Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway (Jelutong Expressway) George Town/Weld Quay Komtar Ferry Sungai Pinang

3602B Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Link

km	Exit	Interchange	To	Remarks
		Malaysian Highway Authority Northern Regional Office	Malaysian Highway Authority Northern Regional Office
	3602B WEST	Universiti Sains Malaysia Interchange	FT 6 Gelugor Highway North George Town City Centre Jelutong Gelugor Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Penang Hospital South Balik Pulau Bayan Lepas Penang International Airport	Trumpet interchange

Commemorative events

Commemorative postage stamps to mark the opening of the Penang Bridge on 1985 were issued by the then Malaysian Postal Services Department (now Pos Malaysia) on 15 September 1985. The denominations for these stamps were 20 sen, 40 sen, and RM 1.00.

Incidents and accidents

Over the years in its operation, the bridge has been a frequent spot for road accidents and suicides.

On 20 January 2019, two cars travelling mainland bound collided and one plunged into the Malacca Strait as a result. A search operation was launched for the submerged car and the victim was later found dead.

In popular culture

Penang Bridge became a subject matter in cartoonist, Lat's comic book, Lat and Gang published in 1987 by Berita Publishing. In the comic's page 58, Lat illustrated various situations took place at the bridge.

See also

• Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge
• North–South Expressway
• Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway