The North–South Expressway Southern Route is an interstate controlled-access highway running parallel to the southwestern coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The expressway forms the south section of the North–South Expressway, connecting the states of Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor. It begins at Seri Kembangan, near the state/territory boundary between Selangor and Kuala Lumpur and travels southwards to end at Pandan-Tebrau in Johor.
The expressway is the third longest in Peninsular Malaysia, after its northern counterpart and the East Coast Expressway.
The Kilometre Zero of the entire expressway is located at the Pandan Interchange with the Johor Bahru Eastern Dispersal Link Expressway.
Route background
Sungai Besi to Nilai North
The expressway begins at the Sungai Besi toll plaza. The Kuala Lumpur–Seremban Expressway links Sungai Besi toll plaza to Jalan Istana and the Besraya Expressway near the Sungai Besi RMAF base. This section is a six-lane carriageway. This section serve the southwestern part of Klang Valley, passing by a few major towns.
The expressway connect to Universiti Putra Malaysia via UPM Interchange, which also provide connection to nearby other suburban towns like Seri Kembangan via Besraya and Putrajaya via SKVE as well as Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) nearby. Kajang interchange however is an interchange with Kajang SILK E18 on their Country Heights Interchange, before connecting it to Kajang town and the rest of E18 network. Bangi Interchange connects to Bandar Baru Bangi township and National University of Malaysia (UKM). Newly build Southville City Interchange links to Federal Route 31 (Banting-Kajang Route) which provide access to Dengkil and Semenyih after passing the Southville City new developments. Putra Mahkota, the last interchange of the Selangor part of the route, connects to Bandar Seri Putra housing developments. The state border of Selangor-Negeri Sembilan follows after.
This section only has laybys on Serdang and Nilai, with Nilai southbound also provide access to Nilai Memorial Park. However what makes them different from other laybys is the food stalls building is also present in these laybys, which makes their function similar to rest areas.
Nilai North to Seremban
From this point the expressway enters Negeri Sembilan, running southwesterly towards Nilai. The interchange to ELITE E6 lies in the northern part of Nilai, near the Selangor–Negeri Sembilan border, enabling motorists from the south to Shah Alam and Klang while bypassing Kuala Lumpur. This section has been widened to an eight-lane carriageway to accommodate heavy traffic.
Nilai interchange gives access to Bandar Baru Nilai and Nilai 3 business centre. The expressway later continues to cross on Recron factory, quarries and estates and also the northernmost rest area of the route which is Seremban R&R. Later only continues to Bandar Ainsdale Interchange, which links to Bandar Ainsdale new developments as well serving as new northernmost interchange to Seremban. Seremban Interchange provides direct access to Seremban city centre and also closes the gap between the expressway and Federal Route 1.
Seremban to Senawang
This section links to Seremban City proper and Senawang. Between this section there's Port Dickson interchange, which isn't connecting the expressway to Port Dickson town but rather the Seremban-Port Dickson E29 expressway which itself isn't directly connected to the expressway but rather on the westward stretch of Federal Route 53 linked. The eight-lane dual-carriageway continues on this section. Senawang Interchange serves as southernmost interchange of Seremban area, which connects Senawang and Seremban Jaya residential areas. The route continues to run parallel to Federal Route 1.
Senawang to Ayer Keroh
The expressway returns to a six-lane dual-carriageway with lanes are divided with a line of trees. This is the section where the route started back to distance from Federal Route 1 as the expressway routes into Malacca.
Malacca-Negeri Sembilan border is situated a few kilometers before Simpang Ampat Interchange, and as the exit provides access to Simpang Ampat and Tampin nearby, it also being the last serving close connection to Federal Route 1 before both started to distance between them, with FT1 goes southeast, and E1 goes southwest into Malacca and run parallel, but distant with Lebuh AMJ FT19. Ayer Keroh is the only interchange that links close to the state's central areas, with a few kilometres north lies the only overhead restaurant of E2 which shares the same name.