Bang Na Expressway


The Bang Na Expressway, officially Burapha Withi Expressway, is a 55 km long six-lane elevated highway in Thailand. It is a toll road and runs above National Highway route 34, owned by the Expressway Authority of Thailand. The bridge was the achievement of Sukavich Rangsitpol deputy prime minister of Chuan Leekpai Cabinet. The Bang Na Expressway was designed by the late Louis Berger.

History

The Bang Na Expressway was conceived by the Expressway and Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand. The structure was built using a design-build contracting method. The columns and superstructure were designed by Jean M. Muller and the alignment and foundations were designed by Asian Engineering Consultants. The owner's engineer was Louis Berger Group and the project was built by a joint venture of Bilfinger + Berger and Ch. Karnchang. It took 1,800,000 cubic meters of concrete to build the bridge. The bridge was completed in January 2000.

Records

The world's longest car bridge, the Bang Na Expressway, held the title of the world's longest bridge from 2000 until 2008. Today, it is the 7th longest bridge in the world.

Structural description

The highway is elevated onto a viaduct that has an average span length of 42 meters. It is a 27-meter wide box girder bridge.
There are two toll plazas on the elevated structure where the structure must widen to accommodate twelve lanes. The toll system is done by Kapsch TrafficCom AB.