Here’s how the Johor-Singapore Causeway evolved over 100 years (2024)

More than 300,000 people travel across the Johor-Singapore Causeway every day, making it one of the busiest land border crossings in the world.

But it is more than just a conduit for goods and people between the two sides. It is also a symbol of historical ties and the close relationship Singapore has with its closest neighbour, Malaysia.

The Causeway was officially opened on June 28, 1924, when Singapore was still a British colony. The project, which took about five years to complete, was hailed as a “great engineering work” back then. It was also crucial to keeping Singapore connected to bigger markets, says Dr Shaun Lin of NUS College, who is an expert in South-east Asian border relations.

“It was seen as the missing link back then,” says Dr Lin.

The Causeway connects Singapore to not just Johor Bahru but also the rest of Malaysia through the KTM rail

The Causeway has evolved not just architecturally, but also in the different forms of significance it has taken on over the last century, says Professor Chong Xu, who teaches global urban history at Soochow University in China, with a research focus on the British and French empires in South-east Asia. He is also the key researcher at the university’s Centre for Chinese Urbanisation Studies.

Today, the Causeway is also a bridge for jobs and leisure. Many Malaysians cross the border daily for work and better economic prospects, while Singaporeans cross the border for sightseeing and cheaper shopping.

They went by rail and ferry boats.

Passengers in Singapore had to disembark in Woodlands on the Singapore-Kranji Railway, and then board ferry boats to cross the Johor Strait. There were two steam-powered ferry boats – one named Singapore and the other Johore. Each ferry could take up to 160 passengers. By 1912, a third ferry, named Ibrahim, was deployed.

Wagon ferries, or train ferries, were introduced in mid-1909 to keep up with demand and ease congestion. Used initially for transporting goods across the Johor Strait, they were barges specially outfitted with railway tracks and were capable of transporting whole train carriages.

In 1913, wagon ferries began transporting motor vehicles – together with the drivers and passengers – across the Johor Strait in open railway trucks protected by tarpaulin sheets.

But while it was a step forward in improving the flow of goods across the Causeway, demand for the wagon ferries’ services soon surpassed their capacity. Between 1910 and 1911 alone, the volume of goods conveyed across the strait increased from 19,278 tonnes to 30,142 tonnes.

In 1917, the director of public works of the Federated Malay States (FMS), Mr W. Eyre Kenny, suggested building a “rubble causeway” across the Johor Strait. There were also discussions about building a bridge, but ultimately a causeway – a raised road of solid fill across water – was preferred, mainly because it was cheaper, says Prof Xu.

The Causeway’s foundation is made mostly of rubble and crushed stone from Pulau Ubin, which were cheaper alternatives to steel that would have been used to build a bridge. A stone causeway would also be more resistant to bombing if it were attacked during a war, adds Prof Xu. According to reports, the varying depths of water – from 14m to 21m – during low tide also made the bridge option unsuitable.

The planning and design of the Causeway began in 1918. British consultant engineers Messrs Coode, Matthew, Fitzmaurice & Wilson drew up plans and presented them to the FMS, Straits Settlements and Johor governments in 1918.

The Straits Settlements government formally approved the project in 1919. Construction was done by another British engineering firm, Messrs Topham, Jones & Railton of London, which had successfully carried out several major public projects in Singapore, including King’s Dock at Keppel Harbour and Empire Dock at Tanjong Pagar. Neither of these structures remains today.

The total cost of construction – about 17 million Straits dollars – was borne jointly by the governments of the FMS, Johor and Straits Settlements. Here’s how the original Causeway looked in 1924.

The Causeway was first opened to railway goods traffic on Sept 17, 1923, and the wagon ferry service between Johor Bahru and Woodlands was withdrawn. Construction was officially completed on June 11, 1924 – three months ahead of time. It was then the largest engineering project undertaken in Malaya.

An opening ceremony was held on June 28, 1924, by Sir Laurence Guillemard, the governor of the Straits Settlements and high commissioner of the FMS from 1920 to 1927. He was accompanied by the Sultan of Johor. Invitations were extended to the Malay rulers and “prominent government officials and gentlemen in the banking and commercial worlds”, according to historical archives.

“The full and impressive ceremonial with which the event was invested was carried through smoothly, and emphasised in fitting manner the historic nature of the event, and the magnitude of the engineering work which it celebrated,” said a Straits Times report on the ceremony.

Tidal studies carried out in 1917 showed that the construction of the Causeway would divide the Johor Strait into two separate tidal compartments and give rise to differences in water levels on either side of the Causeway when it was completed.

It would also block the Johor Strait and prevent vessels from passing through.

The limited technological capabilities at that time meant that it was not easy to build a causeway across the Johor Strait, says Prof Xu.

Thus, the consultant engineers designed the lock channel with a double set of floodgates, which are adjustable gates used to control water flow in waterways. This system would solve the problem of tidal asymmetry.

Reports indicate there were two great explosions – one wrecked “the steelwork lock system” and the second blew a 21m-wide gap in the Causeway itself. The second demolition also severed the pipeline carrying water from Malaysia into Singapore.

Plans to reconstruct the Causeway’s lock channel and lifting bridge were considered in the late 1940s, according to Prof Xu, but these were shelved because the demand for restoration of the water passage was not substantial enough to justify the cost.

Advances in shipbuilding and changes in shipping routes also meant that many vessels no longer sailed through the Johor Strait, which was never a popular route for marine traffic except for smaller vessels because of its shallow waters, he says.

After Singapore separated from Malaysia, the two countries became responsible for managing their respective sides of the border.

To meet the new immigration control requirements at the Causeway, a checkpoint was constructed in Woodlands and completed in June 1967.

From 1967, travellers crossing the border from either side were required to carry passports and have them stamped on their entry and exit. To coincide with the launch of immigration control, special 64-page passports were issued to Singaporeans and were valid for travel only between Singapore and West Malaysia.

As traffic flow between the two countries increased, congestion became a key issue. In an article published by Singapore Tiger Standard, an English newspaper established in 1950 that ceased publication in 1959, it was reported that a scheme for widening the Causeway to ease traffic congestion would be discussed at a meeting of the Causeway Committee held in Singapore in 1951.

The scheme was prepared by the Johore Public Works Department, and included recommendations to add a separate track for pedestrians and trishaws.

However, it was not until 1964 that work to widen the Causeway began. Between 1964 and 1988, the Causeway was widened three times to cope with the increased volume of trade and human traffic. It was further widened between 1989 and 1991.

But the most significant move was between 1974 and 1976, when the Causeway was expanded from three to six lanes. Let’s take a look.

One development was the special lane for lorries carrying perishable goods from Malaysia to Singapore. There were 50 to 60 such lorries plying the route every day. The special lane was implemented in 1985, allowing lorries to use it between 6am and 8am. Today, there are dedicated lanes for heavy vehicles such as lorries and buses.

Heavy congestion, especially in the direction of Johor, persisted throughout the 1970s…

... and the 1990s despite expansion works such as new lanes towards the old Malaysian CIQ, or Customs, Immigration and Quarantine.

In 1998, the Second Link was built, becoming the second vehicular link between the two countries. The Second Link – a 1.9km-long bridge linking Tuas in north-west Singapore to Tanjung Kupang in Gelang Patah, located in south-west Johor – opened without much fanfare. Reports showed that it failed to divert a significant volume of traffic away from the Causeway in Woodlands, as motorists using the Second Link had to make a big detour to get to the city of Johor Bahru.

In July 1996, then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad announced Malaysia’s plans to demolish the Causeway and replace it with a full straight bridge that would allow ships to navigate the Johor Strait.

In 2000, Singapore agreed to the proposed bridge as part of a package of bilateral items being negotiated together with new water agreements. The list included the relocation of Malaysia’s CIQ from Tanjong Pagar.

An agreement on these issues was not reached in subsequent meetings.

In March 2002, Dr Mahathir wrote to then Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew proposing a full bridge, with each party bearing the cost for its half. Under the proposal, the Causeway would be demolished. If Singapore did not agree, Malaysia would build a half-bridge on its side to join the Causeway at the boundary. A new railway bridge and new water pipes would reconnect to the existing amenities on Singapore’s side of the Causeway.

In April that year, then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong responded to the proposal, saying: “Between a new bridge to replace the entire Causeway, and one to replace just the Malaysian side of the Causeway, I like the former better. Once the new bridge is completed, the Causeway can be knocked down, which I prefer to be done after 2007.”

He added: “But if you wish to proceed immediately to replace just your side of the Causeway with a bridge, I shall accept it, though I think this is not ideal.”

However, an agreement was not reached in subsequent meetings.

In 2003, Malaysia went ahead to award the contract to build a half-bridge on its side, which was dubbed the “crooked bridge” by the media.

In October 2003, Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi succeeded Dr Mahathir as prime minister. Then PM Abdullah visited Singapore in January 2004 and paved the way for a resolution of the issue. Work on the half-bridge was suspended in February 2004.

While both sides subsequently agreed to revisit the full straight bridge option, no consensus was reached. In 2006, then PM Abdullah announced the scrapping of the plans for the bridge.

June 28, 2024, marks the centenary of the Causeway.

Today, an estimated 300,000 people cross between Malaysia and Singapore via the Causeway every day, making it one of the busiest border crossings in the world.

Opening up the Johor Strait would improve water quality around the Causeway and the conditions for marine species and fisheries nearby, says Dr Serina Rahman from the Department of South-east Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore. This would also mean better conditions for marine species and fisheries nearby, she adds.

One solution could be to reopen or add culverts, which are tunnels under the Causeway. They were in the original design of the Causeway, according to blueprints, but have been closed over the decades due to construction works.

“This is an easy stopgap solution to improving environmental conditions – that will not require the demolishing or rebuilding of a bridge,” says Dr Rahman, whose research focuses on marine and environmental conservation.

In a bid to ease congestion and reduce waiting time, a QR code system was implemented on March 19, 2024. Travellers in cars passing through Singapore’s Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints can clear immigration using QR codes – instead of their passports. The overall waiting time can be reduced by more than 30 per cent if most car travellers use QR codes for immigration clearance, said the Singapore authorities.

Malaysia is also looking into a QR code system.

In 2020, borders were forced to close to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Only vehicles carrying essential goods were allowed to pass through the Causeway. Borders were fully reopened only two years later, on April 1, 2022.

It highlighted how vital the Causeway is, says Dr Lin of NUS College. “We were just 1km apart, but back then it probably felt like 10,000km.”

It is less about the integrity of the structure and more about whether people will continue to need the Causeway, says Prof Xu. With advancements in technology, the ways in which people can cross the Johor Strait will become more diverse. But there will still be a need for connection in the next 100 years, he adds.

The Johor Bahru-Singapore RTS Link, which is slated to be completed in 2026, will facilitate the flow of people using public transport. However, those travelling in motor vehicles, as well as trucks carrying food supplies and goods, will still have to use the Causeway.

Even with the Tuas Second Link, the Causeway remains a popular option. Says Dr Lin: “The role of the Causeway might change in the future, but it will still be significant.”