Bukit Timah Road splits into two roads at Newton Circus, the west-bound Bukit Timah Road and east-bound Dunearn Road, both of which straddle a canal along their entire lengths. Bukit Timah Road begins at the junction with Rochor Canal Road, Serangoon Road and Selegie Road just south of Tekka Centre as Bukit Timah Road, follows a canal in a northwest direction up to its junction with Clementi Road where it continues northwards as Upper Bukit Timah Road (Chinese: 武吉知马路上段) until the junction with Bukit Panjang Road and Choa Chu Kang Road near the Ten Mile Junctionshopping mall then continues with Woodlands Road. The road passes through the Bukit Timah Planning Area. Buildings named after the road are Bukit Timah Plaza and Bukit Timah Shopping Centre. This road is also affected with the North-South Expressway construction nearby.
The British surrendered to the Japanese at the Old Ford Motor Factory at Upper Bukit Timah Road. A canal was built in later years between Dunearn Road and Bukit Timah Road to solve the flooding problem in the area. In the 1990s, a tunnel and a flyover was constructed namely the Bukit Timah Underpass and the Wayang Satu Flyover in order to improve traffic flow. The Newton Flyover was built in the 1970s which goes over the junction of Newton Circus becoming the first ever Semi-Expressway standalone road, that features both the underpass and flyover without changing any direction.
