Bangkok Mega-Bridge

Name of a gigantic suspension bridge that was built as part of the Industrial Ring Road project (fig.). It is the longest bridge in the Kingdom and the first bridge on the Chao Phraya River when coming from the Gulf of Thailand. It is part of the ring that surrounds the capital and connects Samut Prakan with Bangkok. It spans a meander loop in the Chao Phraya River and has therefore two major spans and a complex circular intersection in the middle. The construction consists of two major bridge spans, one being 702 meter long with 172 meter high towers, the other 582 meter long and with 162 meter high towers (fig.), whereas the bridge part itself is about 52 meter high during the highest tide, to allow clearance for shipping to pass beneath it. It also has 3.5 kilometer of approach bridges and the intersection in the middle has a 2.2 kilometer ramp to connect it with Suksawat Road. Also called Industrial Ring Road Bridge, and Chao Phraya Mega-Bridge, and separately they are known as Bhumipol Bridge 1 (map - fig.) and Bhumipol Bridge 2 (map - fig.). In Thai, it is called Sapaan Wongwaen Utsaahakam (สะพานวงแหวนอุตสาหกรรม), Sapaan Wongwaen Tai (สะพานวงแหวนใต้), and also separately as Sapaan Bhumiphon Neung (สะพานภูมิพล ๑) and (สะพานภูมิพล ๒) Sapaan Bhumiphon Song. See MAP. 回