The Butterworth–Kulim Expressway E15 is an east–west oriented expressway and concurrents with the Federal Route 4 and Asian Highway Route AH140 along its entire length. The actual starting point of the expressway is counted as Kilometre 5. Many maps have mistakenly labelled the section between Exit 1501 Kubang Sebang Interchange and Butterworth as a part of the E15 expressway; however, it is incorrect as the remaining 5-km section is not maintained by PLUS Malaysia Berhad but rather by Lingkaran Luar Butterworth Sdn. Bhd.
History
The construction of BKE started in December 1994 and was completed in September 1996.
Konsortium Lebuhraya Butterworth-Kulim Sdn Bhd, commercially known as Buterworth Kulim Expressway, a wholly owned subsidiary of PLUS Expressway Berhad has been awarded the concession and contract to construct and operate the highway of dual two-lane carriageway with separate motorcycle tracks and related highway facilities for the 16.78 km highway. The concession period is for 32 years, after which the highway will be transferred to the Government. On 2011, the company was taken over to PLUS Malaysia Berhad and its subsidiary Projek Lebuhraya Usahasama Berhad.
Features
Geographically, the terrain between KM 5.00 and KM 11.00 is rather flat, passing through paddy field areas. From KM 11.00 to KM 19.00, the terrain is slightly undulating, where cut and fill slopes are common features. The terrain is again flat from KM 19.00 to KM 21.78, mainly passing through the estates and developing residential areas.
Geometrically, there are four grades separated interchanges and one at grade interchange along BKE. Moreover, there are nine reinforced concrete bridges.
As part of an initiative to facilitate faster transaction at the Lunas and Kubang Semang Toll Plazas, all toll transactions at both toll plazas on the Butterworth–Kulim Expressway will be conducted electronically via PLUSMiles, Touch 'n Go cards or SmartTAGs starting 9 September 2015.
myRFID
As of Dec'2018, the Kubang Semang Toll Plaza and the Lunas Toll Plaza has myRFID activated on the rightlane sharing the same lane with SmartTAG lane. This allows users of myRFID owners to fully utilize these fast lane.
The Butterworth–Kulim Expressway is a 4-lane dual-carriageway expressway with its speed limit for the entire section is 90 km/h except at Seberang Jaya–Kubang Semang Toll Plaza section and Lunas Toll Plaza–Sungai Seluang section where the speed limit is 60 km/h.
