The Malaysian Expressway System (Malay: Sistem Lebuh Raya Ekspres Malaysia) is a network of national controlled-access expressways in Malaysia that forms the primary backbone network of Malaysian national highways.

Malaysian toll road-expressways are built by private companies under the supervision of the government highway authority, Malaysian Highway Authority (abbreviated as MHA; also referred to as Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia (LLM) in Malay).

[1] While toll-free expressways are built by Malaysian Public Works Department or Jabatan Kerja Raya Malaysia (JKR) in Malay.

All Malaysian toll expressways are controlled-access highway and managed in the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) system.

The North–South Expressway passes through all the major cities and conurbations in West Malaysia, such as Penang, Ipoh, the Klang Valley and Johor Bahru.

The Pan Borneo Highway is the longest toll-free expressways in Malaysia, connects the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak with Brunei.

Malaysia had commissioned the Second Link Expressway E3 as part of AH2 to maintain the primary access-controlled highway status of the route.

[10] Before tolled expressways were introduced in the mid-1970s, most Malaysians travelled around Peninsula Malaysia on federal roads.

The third phase was the rehabilitation of the old Federal Route 1 from Kuala Lumpur to Seremban as a toll-free alternative to motorists.

The tunnel was opened in 1979 by the then Minister of Works and Communications, Dato' Abdul Ghani Gilong.

All sections of the North–South Expressway were completed and officially opened on 8 September 1994 by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Construction of the 233-kilometre-long (145 mi) expressway linking Banting, Selangor and Taiping, Perak was to start in 2015.

In the early 1990s the federal government decided to build more expressways and highways in Klang Valley because of the increasing size and population of the Klang Valley conurbation, development of new townships and industrial estates, and the massive traffic jams along Federal Highway.

This bridge was officially opened on 14 September 1985 by the fourth Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad.

The main reasons for constructing new expressways in Penang are the increasing populations in George Town and Butterworth, and the need for more cross-strait linkages.

This interstate highway was built as industrialisation began to spread out from Seberang Perai towards southern Kedah in the 1980s, forming what is now Greater Penang.

Many townships have been constructed around Johor Bahru and industrial estates have been developed in areas such as Senai, Skudai, Tebrau, Pasir Gudang and Tampoi.

Other expressway projects in Johor Bahru are Senai–Desaru Expressway (SDE) linking Senai in the west to Desaru in east coast of Johor, the Johor Bahru Eastern Dispersal Link Expressway (EDL) which linking Pandan interchange of the North–South Expressway to the new Sultan Iskandar CIQ Building in city centre, the Iskandar Coastal Highway linking Nusajaya in the west to the city centre in the east and the Johor Bahru East Coast Highway linking Kampung Bakar Batu passing through Permas Jaya, Taman Rinting and finally towards Pasir Gudang.

On 31 March 2015, the dual carriageway toll free Pan Borneo Expressway in Sarawak was unveiled by the Federal Government.

Expressways are defined as high-speed highways built under the JKR R6 rural highway standard, as dual-carriageways of at least 4 lanes (2 lanes per carriageway) with full access control, grade-separated interchanges and high design speed limit of 120 kilometres per hour (75 mph), allowing the maximum speed limit of 110 kilometres per hour (68 mph).

Highways, on the other hand, complement the national network of expressways and federal roads and built under the JKR R5 rural highway standard, with relatively high design speed limit (although not as high as the expressway speed limit) of 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph), allowing the maximum speed limit of 90 kilometres per hour (56 mph).

[16] The highways are built with partial access control, and grade-separated interchanges and at-grade crossings are both permitted.

All transactions are in Malaysian Ringgit (RM) Users only have to pay at certain toll plazas within the open system range for a fixed amount.

Touch 'n Go and Smart TAG, have been made compulsory in all expressways since 1 July 2004, following the instruction of the Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.

These classes apply to every expressway in Malaysia (including Johor–Singapore Causeway, Malaysia–Singapore Second Link and Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge): Note:RapidKL buses using Touch 'n Go and SmartTAG for Bus Expressway Transit (BET) at all toll plazas in the Klang Valley.

The main issue is the increase of toll rates, which can be a huge burden especially for residents of Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding Klang Valley conurbation.

Environmental issues such as road noise and worsening congestion became the chief reasons of those protests.