[3] The expressway was planned to be built as an alternative for the badly-congested Federal Route 8 along the Kota Bharu–Kuala Krai section, which becomes worse during festive season.

However, the expressway project was dropped off, due to the loss of the Kelantanese Barisan Nasional state government to Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party-Semangat 46 coalition during the 1990 General Election.

The project was later revived by the fifth Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as one of the projects under the Ninth Malaysia Plan,[3] but was dropped off again ultimately after Datuk Seri Najib Razak became the sixth Prime Minister.

[5] In addition, Barisan Nasional-led federal government also criticized the wakaf method being used to fund the expressway construction.

[4] On 20 January 2012 during the BN-sponsored Jelajah Janji Ditepati (Promises Fulfilled) roadshow at Kota Bharu, Datuk Seri Najib Razak included the expressway project as one of the seven federal mega projects being promised for Kelantan if BN takes over Kelantan from PAS during the upcoming 13th general election.