The North–South Expressway is a network of tolled controlled-access highways running through the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

The expressway network consists of the northern and southern route, having a total length of 772 kilometres (480 miles).

Running through seven states and connecting the Thailand and Singapore borders, the North–South Expressway is an important thoroughfare for local, interstate and international traffic.

[3] The expressways were first conceived in 1977 due to increasing congestion on federal route 1, which was the main north–south thoroughfare at the time.

The expressway began opening in stages from 1982, but the economic downturn at the time meant that construction had stalled and the work had to be fully privatised.

The expressways were finally completed in 1994, with the tolls collected from the operational sections funding the remainder of the construction work.

While the E2 terminates at the Selangor–Kuala Lumpur border, the E1 ends at Bukit Lanjan before proceeding to the city via the New Klang Valley Expressway, which is also gazetted as route E1.

While most of the expressway was construct according to JKR R6 design standards being defined in the Arahan Teknik 8/86: A Guide on Geometric Design of Roads (controlled-access expressway with design speed limit of 120 km/h and lane width of 3.5 m), the Jitra–Bukit Kayu Hitam section does not adhere to the JKR R6 standards and was grandfathered as part of the E1 expressway, as the section was constructed before the Arahan Teknik 8/86 was published by the Malaysian Public Works Department in 1986.

[7] At that time, all construction works of the expressway between 1982 and 1988 was solely administered by Malaysian Highway Authority before being transferred to Projek Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan Berhad on 13 May 1988.

[11] After the toll collection at Senai was abolished, the highway had been maintained by the Malaysian Public Works Department.

[1] The work progress became worse due to the nationwide economic setback caused by the falling prices of commodities like rubber and tin.

[6] As a result, the government had to revise its initial policy of having the Malaysian Highway Authority (LLM) to execute the entire construction job and decided to have the expressway project to be privatised, citing the success of the privatisation of the North Klang Straits Bypass in 1985 by Shapadu[1] A letter of intention was sent to United Engineers (Malaysia) Sdn.

PLUS took over the construction, operation and maintenance jobs of the North–South Expressway from LLM starting from March 1998, together with the Skudai Highway FT1.

[17] In May 1992, UEM began accelerating the construction of North-South Expressway, ahead of the deadline of the concession agreement set for May 1995.

[21] The expressway was officially opened on 8 September 1994[21][2] by Malaysian prime minister at that time, Mahathir Mohamad,[2] at the Rawang rest area.

A capsule was put in place that contains documents that have been cultivated by the fourth prime minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad in conjunction with the official opening of the North–South Expressway on 8 September 1994.

"Plans to upgrade the stretches from Slim River to Tanjung Malim, Tanjung Malim to Rawang (Northern route), Seremban to Senawang, and Senawang to Ayer Keroh (Southern route) was approved by the government for better traffic flow.

(Gua Tempurung stretch and Kuala Kangsar–Jelapang stretch which are both highland roads with dangerous corners) On 16 December 2021, the North-South Expressway completes its RFID Tag MyRFID network thus making all tolled roads on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia have a MyRFID toll booth.

Considering that two lanes are inadequate for smooth traffic flow, the expressway is being widened as a result of the increasing number of fatal accidents along this highway.

Pos Malaysia issued commemorative postage stamps to mark the opening of the North–South Expressway on 10 September 1994.