East Coast Parkway

The East Coast Parkway (Abbreviation: ECP; ; Lebuhraya Taman Pantai Timur) is an expressway that runs along the southeastern coast of Singapore. The expressway is approximately 20 km in length, and connects Singapore Changi Airport in the east to the Benjamin Sheares Bridge in the south of the main island, and to the Marina Coastal Expressway. It used to link with the Ayer Rajah Expressway, but it has been truncated in December 2013 and the job has been taken over by the Marina Coastal Expressway. It has an interchange with the Pan Island Expressway at the Changi Flyover, about 1 km from the eastern end of the expressway.

History
The first phase of the East Coast Parkway had started in 1971 and completed in 1974 from Fort Road to Marine Parade, followed by an extension of Phase 2 which was completed in 1976 to Bedok South Road and then Phase 3 was built together to Changi Airport in 1980. They were built in reclaimed land. The Phase 4 was opened on 18 April 1981 as construction started in 1977, from Fort Road all the way to Keppel Road.

It opened in 1981 to coincide with the opening of Singapore Changi Airport, although there remained traffic lights on the expressway until the completion of the last flyover at Fort Road in 1989. The Benjamin Sheares Bridge was opened at the same time in 1982, and it was extended all the way until it reaches Keppel Road.

Flanked by East Coast Park on one side and high-rise housing on the other, the well-landscaped expressway was built and maintained with the conscious intention of giving visitors arriving via Singapore Changi Airport a good first impression of the country as they commute from the airport to the city centre in less than 15 minutes on a good day.

Traffic congestion during the morning peak hours, however, led to the introduction of an Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantry near the Tanjong Rhu Flyover in the direction towards the city, one of the first two gantries to be set up in the country, which came into operation on 1 April 1998 together with the other gantry at Ophir Road.

A long, straight section of the ECP close to Changi Airport can be used as an emergency landing runway which was recently decommissioned. This section can be easily identified by removable potted plants instead of the standard large trees on the median strip.

To facilitate the development of the new downtown, the ECP was truncated after the Benjamin Sheares Bridge, while the stretch at Marina South area will be realigned and converted to a major arterial road. A new expressway, the Marina Coastal Expressway, connects with the ECP and the Kallang–Paya Lebar Expressway to the Ayer Rajah Expressway and is built along the coast of Marina South.