SINGAPORE - Motorists living in the upcoming Tengah town in the west will have direct access to the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) by 2027.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will be calling a tender for new connections, which will include a flyover and which will also give residents in Jurong town another link to the PIE.

The project involves building new roads and modifying existing ones. It includes a 0.5km dual four-lane flyover along the PIE near the exit to Jurong Canal Drive, a road junction below the flyover which will connect the PIE, Jurong Canal Drive and Tengah Boulevard leading to Tengah town, and widening of the PIE between Hong Kah Flyover and Bukit Batok Flyover.

The LTA said on Tuesday (Sept 29) the tender will be called by end of this year.

To facilitate the construction of the new flyover and at-grade road junction, a 1.5km stretch of the PIE will be shifted northwards onto a part of Jurong Road. With this, traffic along Jurong Road will be re-routed to the PIE before joining Bukit Batok Road.

Tengah town will be Singapore's first smart and sustainable town. About the size of Bishan, it will have waterside flats with community farming facilities.

It will also have Singapore's first traffic-free town centre, with roads running underground to free up space for pedestrians and cyclists. The town centre is expected to be ready by 2025.

With 42,000 new homes, Tengah, also dubbed Forest Town, will complement other western "smart" precincts such as Jurong Innovation District and Jurong Lake District. It will be served by the Jurong Region MRT Line.