diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 32af8abca95..49744f1b7d6 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@ This project follows [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/) fo
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [1.18.1] - 2021-07-23
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* **api-gateway:** route regression for non-word and unsafe URI chars ([#556](https://github.com/awslabs/aws-lambda-powertools-python/issues/556))
+
 ## [1.18.0] - 2021-07-20
 
 ### Bug Fixes
diff --git a/aws_lambda_powertools/event_handler/api_gateway.py b/aws_lambda_powertools/event_handler/api_gateway.py
index 6948646a360..44d3f2b07de 100644
--- a/aws_lambda_powertools/event_handler/api_gateway.py
+++ b/aws_lambda_powertools/event_handler/api_gateway.py
@@ -21,7 +21,11 @@
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 _DYNAMIC_ROUTE_PATTERN = r"(<\w+>)"
-_NAMED_GROUP_BOUNDARY_PATTERN = r"(?P\1\\w+\\b)"
+_SAFE_URI = "-._~()'!*:@,;"  # https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3986.txt
+# API GW/ALB decode non-safe URI chars; we must support them too
+_UNSAFE_URI = "%<>\[\]{}|^"  # noqa: W605
+
+_NAMED_GROUP_BOUNDARY_PATTERN = fr"(?P\1[{_SAFE_URI}{_UNSAFE_URI}\\w]+)"
 
 
 class ProxyEventType(Enum):
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e1200887938..12d3c68376f 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [tool.poetry]
 name = "aws_lambda_powertools"
-version = "1.18.0"
+version = "1.18.1"
 description = "Python utilities for AWS Lambda functions including but not limited to tracing, logging and custom metric"
 authors = ["Amazon Web Services"]
 include = ["aws_lambda_powertools/py.typed"]
diff --git a/tests/functional/event_handler/test_api_gateway.py b/tests/functional/event_handler/test_api_gateway.py
index 1c7c53f7187..f16086ba634 100644
--- a/tests/functional/event_handler/test_api_gateway.py
+++ b/tests/functional/event_handler/test_api_gateway.py
@@ -701,3 +701,30 @@ def get_network_account(account_id: str, network_id: str):
     event["resource"] = "/accounts/{account_id}/source_networks/{network_id}"
     event["path"] = "/accounts/nested_account/source_networks/network"
     app.resolve(event, {})
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "req",
+    [
+        pytest.param(123456789, id="num"),
+        pytest.param("user@example.com", id="email"),
+        pytest.param("-._~'!*:@,;()", id="safe-rfc3986"),
+        pytest.param("%<>[]{}|^", id="unsafe-rfc3986"),
+    ],
+)
+def test_non_word_chars_route(req):
+    # GIVEN
+    app = ApiGatewayResolver()
+    event = deepcopy(LOAD_GW_EVENT)
+
+    # WHEN
+    @app.get("/accounts/<account_id>")
+    def get_account(account_id: str):
+        assert account_id == f"{req}"
+
+    # THEN
+    event["resource"] = "/accounts/{account_id}"
+    event["path"] = f"/accounts/{req}"
+
+    ret = app.resolve(event, None)
+    assert ret["statusCode"] == 200