By Maria Almenoar & Yeo Ghim Lay

A MAJOR milestone in Singapore's road network will be crossed this morning, with the opening of an expressway given the job of easing congestion between downtown and the north.

The 12km-long Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE), with 9km running underground as South-east Asia's longest underground tunnel, connects the Tampines Expressway to East Coast Parkway.

It is intended to solve the travel woes of residents in north-eastern suburbs like Sengkang, Punggol and Hougang, for whom - till today - the only highway to the city has been the often-congested Central Expressway (CTE).

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