Sunday, September 23, 2007

High in the sky freeway meets the "Mega Brige"

Completion of Bangkok's "Industrial Ring Road"
"Such an engineering solution cannot be seen anywhere else in the world" says Gobridges.com. In the south of Bangkok a series of freeways now float high in the sky-- a vortex of elevated loops connect with suspension bridges high over the Chao Phraya River. The view from the ground is quite stunning, and the drive above exhilarating. Today I shot some videos while traveling over this monster, the so-called "Industrial Ring Road."


The project, funded mainly by Japan and China, commenced in 2001 and was completed only a few months ago -- on time. Some early design plans are posted here, and some details about the project's conception and the innovations in engineering that made it possible can be found here. The actual "Mega Bridge" lit up around 7:00 pm last night. I watched as a freighter passed under it.