How A Motorway Reconnects A Segregated Forest

Weaving through the beating heart of the Malaysian Peninsula is Federal Route 8 - or better known as Lebuhraya Gua Musang. Today, it's the only route that runs from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Bharu, directly through the Titiwangsa Mountain Range.

Every holiday season, tens of thousands of motorists prefer to head up North on this 400 kilometer, two-lane trunk road, over the East Coast highway as it saves up to 2 hours in travel times. But with narrow lanes, blind corners, steep terrain and hundreds of logging and logistics lorries to negotiate, it also has a reputation as one of Malaysia’s most dangerous roads. Between 2010 and 2014 alone, there were more than 400 accidents on this route, with a sizable number involving fatalities.

But aside from being treacherous to drive on, Route 8 is also notorious for endangering wild animals. Two of the five identified roadkill hotspots in Malaysia occur along this route, as it divides Peninsular Malaysia’s largest rainforest ecosystem (the Central Forest Spine) into two rainforest ‘habitat islands’ - Banjaran Titiwangsa and Taman Negara.

The split of the habitat islands heavily disrupts the rainforest ecosystem as wild animals who’d once migrated freely between the two areas now find themselves trapped on either side of the forest - far from food, shelter and other animals. With thousands of vehicles driving through Route 8, safe animal crossings are virtually non-existent, as many animals would risk their lives and cover long distances in search of food.

This is especially problematic for the rainforest’s apex predator: the Malayan tiger. With less than 200 mature tigers in the wild as of 2019, a continually shrinking rainforest ecosystem, and the ever-present threat of commercial poachers, the future of our national icon continues to be bleak.

Photo credit - IG user: @petals.and.kettles

A road that reunites a forest

In 2014, construction of the Sungai Yu Eco Viaduct was completed. As part of the multi-billion Ringgit Central Spine Road project, the new dual-carriageway (also known as Route 34) wasn’t just built as a safer road for motorists heading northwards, but it was also designed with wildlife in mind, as part of the National Tiger Conservation Action Plan.

The motorway viaduct sits tens of meters above the ground, allowing ample space for tigers and other wildlife to cross safely between the two rainforests without danger of motorists. But as some of natural vegetation was removed to make way for its construction, efforts have been made by several NGOs to coax these wild animals into using these wildlife corridors.

In 2016, the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (MYCAT), Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan), began ‘rewilding the wildlife corridor’ with natural vegetation and a goal to plant at least a million trees by 2020.

Photo credit: MYCAT

Having said that, building sustainable infrastructure is only half the battle in conserving the natural environment and ensuring the livelihoods of the wild animals. Since the opening of the Sungai Yu Eco Viaduct, poaching, mining and deforestation continues to be an issue as the surrounding forest areas remain unprotected. According to MYCAT, the sections north and south of the Eco Viaduct have already been converted to rubber and palm oil plantations, while further downstream, Sg Yu has often been bombed for fish and mined for gold.

As a result, the Pahang State Government has amped up enforcement, education and gazetted 128 hectares of the surrounding area as a Permanent Forest Reserve. For good measure, they’ve also closed off a section of the old Federal Route 8 to curb the illegal entries and activities mentioned above.

Image: JKR Malaysia

The Sungai Yu Eco Viaduct, however, is just one of many viaducts and wildlife crossings planned within the Central Spine Road. More than a quarter of its 350km length are designated as viaducts, and even if some of it continues to be under construction until 2023, it’s reassuring that a multi-billion Ringgit highway mega project such as this doesn’t only consider the safety of motorists, but also the survival of Malaysia’s fragile rainforest ecosystem and the flora and fauna that live in it.