The main objective of this tunnel is to solve the problem of flash floods in Kuala Lumpur and to reduce traffic jams along Jalan Sungai Besi and Loke Yew flyover at Pudu during rush hour.

In 2011, the SMART tunnel received the UN Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for its innovative and unique management of storm water and peak hour traffic.

The project is led by the government, including Malaysian Highway Authority (Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia, LLM) and the Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia (Jabatan Pengairan dan Saliran, JPS) and also a company joint venture pact between Gamuda Berhad and MMC Corporation Berhad (MMC).

[1] A tunnel that would allow floods to bypass the centre was one way of achieving this, providing it was coupled with temporary storage facilities to keep flows downstream of Kuala Lumpur within the capacity of the river channel.

[citation needed] By 18 July 2010 the SMART system had prevented seven potentially disastrous flash floods in the city centre,[5] having entered its first mode 3 operation only weeks after the opening of the motorway.

Things would have been much worse in Kuala Lumpur had it not been for the tunnel, which successfully diverted 5 million cubic metres of flood water during the 22 hours it was on full activation.

[9] In 2022, the government was considering the proposal to build another tunnel, briefly known as SMART 2, to cater for high density flood-prone area such as Shah Alam.