KUALA LUMPUR: Motorised vehicles made way for 2,000 runners who took over the newly opened Duta-Ulu Kelang (DUKE) Expressway for the “Dukethon 2009” promotional run.

Two sections of the expressway, which opened on April 30, were closed for several hours early in the morning for the event yesterday.

The runners, who had to complete 5km, were flagged off by Works Min­ister Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor.

The RM892mil expressway stretches 18km, 40% of it elevated, bypassing various high-traffic areas in the city such as Lebuhraya Maha­meru, Jalan Tun Razak and Jalan Kuching.

DUKE Expressway operations general manager Ong Kheng Boon said that as of October, the expressway saw a 67% growth in traffic