The Kilometre Zero of the Federal Route 185 is located at Simpang Pulai, Perak, at its junctions with the Federal Route 1, the main trunk road of the central of Peninsular Malaysia and end at Gua Musang town. Meanwhile, section from Chiku to Kuala Telemung regazetted as Federal Route 36 in February 2017.
History
The highway used to be known as Perak State Route 181 from Simpang Pulai to Pos Slim before being extended eastwards and recommissioned as a federal highway. The construction of the highway began in 2001 and was completed in 2004. Phase 2 was completed at the end of 2010.
The route runs through the states of Perak, Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu, starting at Simpang Pulai and traversing through the main range at Lojing, then Chiku, before entering Jalan Felda Aring and ending at Kuala Jeneris.
The total distance of the road is, excluding the 41 km existing road from Gua Musang to Chiku, Kelantan. The road is designed to Malaysian Public Works Department geometric standard of R3 with a design speed of 50 km/h. In terms of riding comfort, this R3 standard falls in between the R5 or R6 standard for expressway and R1 or R2 standard such as the winding hilly road. Typically, the road is a two-lane single carriageway with a lane width of 3.5m and shoulder width of 2.5m. Climbing lanes are also provided at certain sections with steep gradient, to assist slow moving vehicles. The project also involves the construction of viaducts, bridges and culverts. Those who want to go from Simpang Pulai to Kuala Berang/Kuala Berang to Simpang Pulai must go through part of federal route 8.
Estimated cost
The entire project is estimated to cost RM1.6 billion and divided into 10 packages for implementation.
Features
is the second highest bridge in Malaysia. At most sections, the Federal Route 185 was built under the JKR R5 road standard, allowing maximum speed limit of up to 90 km/h. The highway overlaps with T156 Jalan Pengkalan Utama from Kenyir Lake to Kuala Jeneris.
Notable events
20 December 2010 - Twenty-seven people, mostly Thai tourist were killed when the double-decked coach bus they were travelling in crashed at the Second East–West Highway of the Perak–Pahang border near Cameron Highlands, Pahang.
In February 2017, Second East-West Highway section from Chiku to Kuala Berang regazetted as. Meanwhile, section overlaps with D29 at Gua Musang regazetted as.
