Despite the need to fill the missing link, the Causeway project did not come without criticisms. Its foundation laying ceremony took place during the economic boom in British Malaya in the first half of the 1920s, when international prices of Malaya's main exports like rubber and tin reached record levels. Yet in the latter half of 1920 and up until 1922, an unexpected worldwide economic depression prompted the Causeway to come under public scrutiny. The wider economic downturn, together with the project's high costs, nearly led to a halt in the construction.⁷ However, the project did continue, culminating in a series of milestones for the Causeway, one of which was its opening to goods trains on 17 September 1923.⁸ The Causeway was also completed three months ahead of time. When it officially opened on 28 June 1924, the Causeway was described as "one of the greatest engineering works that [had] been undertaken in the Far East".⁹

The construction of the Causeway was a mammoth task that lasted four years, involved thousands of workers, and cost Johor, the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States 17 million Straits dollars.

Spanning slightly over 1 km across the Straits of Johor, the Causeway consisted of a massive bank of granite rubble - 1.15 million cubic metres of stone - extending from Woodlands to Johor Bahru. At around 18 m wide, it had a double railway line, a footpath, and a roadway for vehicular traffic.¹⁰ At the Johor end, a lock and rolling lift bridge allowed for the passage of small vessels along the Straits, and traffic over the lock.

Click here to explore another aspect of the Causeway's beginnings, or here to return to the main Causeway Centenary page.

Photographs