Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The First Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge (Thai Saphan Mittaphap Thai-Lao) is a bridge over the Mekong, connecting Nong Khai province and the city of Nong Khai in Thailand with Vientiane in Laos. Spanning a length of 1170 m, the bridge has two 3.5 m-wide lanes for vehicle traffic, two 1.5 m-wide footpaths and an unfinished single railway line in the middle, straddling the narrow central reservation.
Contents |
Opened on April 8, 1994, it was the first bridge crossing the lower Mekong, and the second on the full course of the Mekong.
The total cost was about US$30 million, funded by the Australian government as development aid for Laos.
The bridge was built by Australian companies as a demonstration of the capabilities of their ability to complete major infrastructural projects in southeast Asia. This mixing of development aid with commercial interests was criticized by some NGOs.
The official name of the bridge was changed by the addition of "First", after the Second Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge in the south of the country was opened in January 2007.
Traffic on the bridge drives on the left, as in Thailand, while traffic in Laos drives on the right. The changeover at the Lao end is controlled by traffic lights and is located just before the Lao border post.
A shuttle bus service operates across the bridge, between the Lao and Thai border posts.
A metre-gauge track from the new Nong Khai station runs only to the beginning of the bridge on the Thai side.
On March 20, 2004 an agreement between the Thai and Lao governments was signed to extend the railway to Tha Nalaeng in Laos, about 3.5 km from the bridge. This will be the first railway link to Laos. The Thai government agreed to finance completion of the link to Tha Nalaeng.
On February 22, 2006 approval of funding for further development of the rail line from Tha Nalaeng to Vientiane, a distance of about 30 km, was announced by the French Development Agency.[1]
Work on the construction of the first leg (from the Thai side of the bridge to Tha Nalaeng) was begun early 2007 and is expected to be completed in the course of 2008.[2]
- ^ Saeung, Sopaporn (February 23, 2006). "France okays Thai-Laos railway link", The Nation.
- ^ "Laos link launched", Railway Gazette International, 2007-03-01.