Central Spine Road


Central Spine Road or Kuala Krai–Kuala Pilah Highway, Federal Route 34, is a new toll-free expressway under construction in the center of Peninsular Malaysia. The 390 kilometres of highway is being built to eventually replace the mostly two-lane Malaysia Federal Route 8 as well as Malaysia Federal Route 9. Construction of CSR began at Package 3, from Merapoh to Kampung Relong due to the fact that the old Gua Musang Highway passes through Chegar Perah, a section notorious for roadkill. The new highway has a long eco-viaduct built in this section. Package 5, which stretches from north Raub to Karak will be built next, which will connect it to the Kuala Lumpur–Karak Expressway (E8), bypassing Bentong and Mempaga. This will help detour traffic from the steep mountainous grade between Raub and Bentong.

History

The construction of the highway is being undertaken in several phases:
  • Phase 1 is a 51km stretch from Kuala Krai to Jambatan Sungai Lakit in Kelantan.
  • Phase 2 is 63km long from Jambatan Sungai Lakit to Gua Musang in Kelantan
  • Phase 3 is 107km long from Gua Musang to Kampung Relong in Pahang.
  • Phase 4 is 56km long from Kampung Relong to Raub in Pahang
  • Phase 5 is 54km long form Raub to Bentong
  • Phase 6 is 47km long and connects Bentong and Simpang Pelangai.
On 15 December 2016, section 3H was opened to traffic. As of July 2024, Package One from Kuala Krai to the Sungai Lakit Bridge is 11.59% complete; Package Two from the Sungai Lakit Bridge to Gua Musang is 22.40% complete. Package Three from Gua Musang to Kampung Relong is 84.25% complete; Package Four from Kampung Relong to Raub is 63.69% complete.
Users can now access Package Five from Raub to Bentong, and Package Six from Bentong to the LPT Junction is 30.07% complete.

Features

The Central Spine Road included these features as below.
In most sections, it is built under JKR R5 road standards, allowing maximum speed limit of up to 90km/h.
From Kampung Sungai Yu to Chegar Perah and from Chegar Perah to Bukit Tujuh, it overlaps Federal Route 8 Merapoh Highway.
There are no sections with motorcycle lanes.