Ayer Rajah Expressway

The Ayer Rajah Expressway (Abbreviation: AYE) extends from the western end of the Marina Coastal Expressway in the south of Singapore to Tuas in the west near the Tuas Second Link to Malaysia. Together with the Marina Coastal Expressway and the East Coast Parkway, it forms a second east-west link to complement the role played by the Pan Island Expressway.

As from 29 December 2013, ECP and AYE are no longer linked together after MCE was opened.

History

Construction on the expressway commenced in 1983, with the first two phases completed by 1988. This section involved the widening of several existing roads along the way, such as Ayer Rajah Road and Upper Ayer Rajah Road, as well as the construction of what was then the longest road viaduct, the Keppel Viaduct, from where the eastern end of the expressway commences. The road extends from Alexandra Road until the Keppel Road. It ends at Teban Flyover along Jurong Town Hall Road.

On 2 January 1998, the expressway was extended to Tuas from the Teban Flyover in conjunction with the opening of the Tuas Second Link to Johor. This construction, which followed the alignment of Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim, involved the expansion of the existing road to match with the width of the rest of the AYE, construction of "filter" roads on both sides of the expressway (which eventually took the name of Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim), and the building of five flyovers and two underpasses. It meets up with the Pan Island Expressway at the Tuas Flyover.

Ayer

Ayer may refer to:

Places

People

Music

Other uses

Raja

Raja (/ˈrɑːdʒɑː/; also spelled rajah, from Sanskrit राजा rājā-) is a term for a monarch or princely ruler in South and Southeast Asia. Rana is practically equivalent, and the female form Rani (sometimes spelled ranee) applies equally to the wife of a raja or rana. Maharaja, or "great king" is in theory a title for more significant rulers in India, but after some inflation of titles over time, there is no clear difference between the terms.

The title has a long history in the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia, being attested from the Rigveda, where a rājan- is a ruler, see for example the dāśarājñá, the "battle of ten kings".

Etymology

Sanskrit rājan- is cognate to Latin rēx (genitive rēgis), Gaulish rīx, Gaelic rí (genitive ríg), etc., originally denoting heads of petty kingdoms and city states. It is believed to be ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European *h₃rēǵs, a vrddhi formation to the root *h₃reǵ- "to straighten, to order, to rule". The Sanskrit n-stem is secondary in the male title, apparently adapted from the female counterpart rājñī which also has an -n- suffix in related languages, compare Old Irish rígain and Latin regina. Cognates of the word Raja in other Indo-European languages include English reign and German reich. Rather common variants in Rajasthani, Marathi and Hindi, used for the same royal rank in parts of India include Rana, Rao, Raol, Rawal and Rawat.

Pasir Panjang

Pasir Panjang is an area in the south-western part of Singapore. It is located at the southern part of the Queenstown Planning Area, an urban planning zone under the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Kent Ridge Park is a topographical feature which runs through Pasir Panjang.

Etymology

The name Pasir Panjang appears as "Passir Panjang" in 1851. The Malay word pasir panjang literally means "long sand", a reference to the long sandy beach that stretched along the coast in this area.

Pasir Panjang is known as hong heng sua in Hokkien, meaning "Hong Heng's plantation".

History

Pasir Panjang Road, which once hugged the coastline, was laid down as far as the Jurong River by John Turnbull Thomson by 1850. Thomson was Government Surveyor of Singapore from 1841 to 1853.

In 1910, the Government took over the opium industry and a state-owned factory was established at Pasir Panjang. In the 1920s, many of the wealthy Chinese built holiday and residential bungalows along the coast, some of which are still visible today in this area. In 1930, some of the Malay families from the Kallang River Basin area were resettled here when Kallang Airport was constructed. In 1957, the Malay settlement here became known as the West Coast Malay Settlement. Right up till the early 1960s, this area contained many Malay fishing villages.