Jalan Kayu

Jalan Kayu
Name transcription(s)
• Chinese	惹兰加由
• Pinyin	rělánjiāyóu
• Malay	Jalan Kayu
• Tamil	ஜலன் காயு
Row of shophouses next to Jalan Kayu, famous to food-hunters for its roti prata.
Country	Singapore

Jalan Kayu is a street situated within Sengkang in the North-Eastern region of Singapore. The street often serves as a gateway between the districts of Sengkang and Seletar, with Seletar Camp and Seletar Airport lying towards the Northern end of the street. The area South of Jalan Kayu has been renamed as Fernvale to form the Western part of Sengkang New Town.

Etymology and history

Jalan Kayu was built in 1928 when the first Royal Air Force base outside the United Kingdom was established in Singapore, in the northern part of the island.

Jalan Kayu means "wooden road" in Malay. One version for the road name's origin is that firewood used to be stacked on the roadside. Another version is that the muddy laterite roads leading to the rubber estates in the area were made passable due to logs of wood that used to cover the muddy roads, hence the term in Malay jalan kayu.

Highlights

The street itself is a relatively minor, one-lane road. However, it became prominent in Singapore for two reasons. Firstly, it was the main access route to the large British-built military compound in Seletar as well as the neighbouring Seletar Airport. Secondly, a range of road-side eateries selling roti prata gradually earned a reputation among the people of Singapore as arguably amongst the best in Singapore, and the road name became a household name for good food in a laidback setting.

Getting there

Only services 85 (Punggol - Yishun), 86 (Sengkang - Ang Mo Kio) and 103 (Serangoon - Yishun) and lately, new bus service 102 (Hougang - Jalan Kayu), which connects Hougang, Buangkok and Sengkang to Jalan Kayu. The rest of the buses serve as a transferring point to other areas. A small section between Yio Chu Kang Road and Sengkang West Avenue was closed on 13 October 2013, to make way for developments around the area.

The Thanggam LRT Station of the Sengkang LRT Line can also be connected to the shophouses via Lorong Samak, a small road off Jalan Kayu.

References

• Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names, Eastern Universities Press, ISBN 981-210-205-1