Second Lao Thai Bridge
Second Lao Thai Bridge over the Mekong River connects Savannakhet Province in Laos with Mukdahan Province in Thailand begun construction on March 21, 2004 and finished at the end of 2006.
During construction on 22 July
2005, at about 4.45pm a crane being used to airlift concrete slabs for
installation suddenly snapped and killing three Japanese engineers,
three Thai and six Lao workers. You can read the news of accident from
XinHuanet.com by clicking here.
The total cost was about 2.5
billion baht (US$70 million), funded largely by a Japanese loan. The
bridge has two traffic lanes, is 1600 meters (1.0 mi) long and 12
meters (39 ft) wide. Traffic on the bridge drives on the right, as in
Laos, while traffic in Thailand drives on the left; the change-over is
on the Thai side.
An official opening ceremony
was held on December 19, 2006, by Lao Vice President Bounnhang Vorachit
and HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand. Also attended the
ceremony were Prime Ministers of the two countries and diplomatic corps.
The 2nd Friendship Bridge is aimed at facilitating transportation, trade, investment and tourism activities for countries in the Mekong Sub-region.
In the near future there will be the third and the fourth friendship bridges build over the mekong river similar this one. Click here to find out more about Third Lao-Thai Friendship bridge.
Stay tune we post the iformation here as soon as we have enough information. In the mean time take care.
