[1] The Federal Route 1 was the backbone of the road system in the western states of Peninsular Malaysia before being supplanted by the North–South Expressway (E1 and E2).

[3] The Kilometre Zero of the Federal Route 1 is located at the former site of the now-demolished Tanjung Puteri CIQ Complex in Johor Bahru, where it connected to the Johor–Singapore Causeway at the Malaysia–Singapore border.

At the first kilometre at the city of Johor Bahru, it is connected with the Federal Route 3, the main trunk road of the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

[4] The Federal Route 1 is the main trunk road at the interior part of Peninsular Malaysia but passes the western states.

[6] It is estimated that over a million Malaysians rely on the Federal Route 1 users as their main economic source.

The next phases were mostly constructed by the British colonial government as a means to provide an efficient transportation network to exploit the economic resources in Malaya.

During the campaign, it was estimated that more than 100 bridges were blown by the Royal Engineers in order to stop the Japanese advances southwards.

[15] The government in 1977 proposed to build an alternative road that would later be known as North–South Expressway, due to severe congestion along Federal Route 1,[16][better source needed] but economic uncertainties caused delays and the project was only revived in the 1980s under Mahathir Mohamad.

The nine-year concession of Jalan Kuching FT1 was awarded to Kamunting Corporation Berhad, signed on 15 April 1985.

In December 2022, a 9.4 km segment of the Ipoh-Butterworth trunk road has been renamed to "Jalan Tun Dr. S. Samy Vellu " in a tribute to the former works minister.

This renaming, as per the Federal gazette, encompasses the stretch commencing at the Kinta-Kuala Kangsar district border and culminating at the junction of Taman Makmur in Sungai Siput, Perak.