New express way expected to ease traffic in Bangkok

BANGKOK, June 23 (TNA) - The construction of a new express way, the Sirat Expressway, which connects Bangkok with the Outer Ring Road, has been over 99 per cent completed and is now scheduled to be opened for motorists in August 2016, a few months before its earlier schedule. Narong Gieddech, Governor of the state-run Expressway and Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (EXAT), told journalists on Thursday that upon its completion, the new expressway should relieve traffic in the western side between Bangkok and nearby provinces as it provides a six-lane elevated road. Narong said that the new expressway is constructed by Bangkok Expressway and Metro Public Co., Ltd. (BEM), which is responsible for a build-transfer-operate system, with its total distance of 16.7 kilometres. Meanwhile, BEM Managing Director Payao Marittanaporn told reporters that the new expressway should also help expand development to the western side of Bangkok and her company has projected about 97,000 cars to initially use it daily. (TNA)