Highway 418….A new year’s gift for the southerners
Story by Lekha Kliangklao
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is due to officially open a new highway in the strife-torn far south on December 26 as a New Year’s gift for the local people and also to celebrate His Majesty the King’s 82nd birthday.
The 29.44 kilometre highway linking Ban Klong Khood in Nong Chik district of Pattani with Ban Tha Sap in Muang district of Yala is the first standard road in the three southernmost provinces. It has four traffic lanes and will help shorten the traveling distance from Yala to Pattani or vice versa to just 29 kilometres instead of 42 kilometres if traveling via the existing route, Highway No 410.
The most outstanding feature of the new highway, officially named Highway 418, is that there is not a single traffic light throughout the 29 kilometre stretch. At every intersection, there is an elevated bridge to allow uninterrupted traffic flow and motorists can safely make U-turns under the bridge. While travelling on the road, motorists and commuters will be able to see rice fields and rubber plantations on both sides of the road with communities occasionally popping up.
Construction of the road began in the middle of 2002 and it was supposed to be completed on September 30, 2005 at an estimated cost of 703.5 million baht. However, the contractor which won the contract to build the road abandoned the job two years afterward after having completed just 25 percent of the construction work. The cabinet on November 27, 2006 decided to bring in the army engineering corp to carry on the construction. The budget for the project has also been increased to 1,040.8 million baht from 703.5 million baht originally set.
About 1,200 members of the army engineering corp were involved in the construction which went on for more than 720 days before its completion. The construction was not smooth however and was occasionally interrupted by violence perpetrated by suspected militants. Fortunately, none of the soldiers were killed in the process.
Highway 418 was open for trial run in November. Once open to traffic, the road will serve as a main artery for the transport of people and goods within the three southernmost provinces and with neighbouring districts such as Hat Yai.
On top of Highway 418 project which has just been completed, the military is also involved in the construction of several other projects in the trouble-plagued region. Among them are a bridge project spanning across the Bang Lang dam; a 800-metre tunnel in Betong on Highway 410 which is regarded as a gateway linking the three southernmost provinces with Betong district of Yala.