The population in Sri Petaling was not high in the early 1980s as it was relatively distant from the city of Kuala Lumpur and a little isolated. The population grew in the late 1980s when two routes of access were opened to neighbouring suburbs; one to Salak Selatan, also known as Salak South, and another to "Taman Gembira", or Happy Garden. Over the course of the next decade, development continued and the population grew. In 1997, the Shah Alam Expressway (KESAS) was opened, allowing people to travel to Subang Jaya within as little as 10 minutes, and further towards Shah Alam and Klang. The opening of the Shah Alam Expressway was one of the reasons for the rapid growth in Sri Petaling. In 2007, the Maju Expressway (MEX) opened, a dedicated highway connecting the Kuala Lumpur city centre to Putrajaya with Sri Petaling as one of its exits. The expressway connects residents to the city centre, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.