The Department of Rural Roads (DRR) on Wednesday announced the completion of two rail crossing bridges between Highway No 1003 (Prachuap Khiri Khan Rural Road) and the railway line in Kui Buri district of the province.
The bridges can help prevent road accidents and are expected to support the Transport Ministry's double-track railway development projects in the future, according to the DRR.
The DRR decided to build the bridges in response to reports of chronic accidents in the area, dedicating 288.7 million baht of the budget for fiscal 2021-2022.
The move came after the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) announced new safety measures requiring that any crossing point with a so-called traffic moment (TM) quantity of 100,000 and over must have either a crossing bridge or tunnel, to minimise accidents and improve safety.
The bridges are located between the fourth intersection of Highway No 1003 and Baan Pho Riang in Kui Buri district.
At the fourth intersection, they start at the 278-kilometre marker and end at Prachuap Khiri Khan Provincial Administrative Office Road at the 1,450km marker.
The first bridge is 1,246 metres long, with a U-turn point underneath. It is divided into two parts: a bridge running 310 metres in length and 10m in width, and a concrete road spanning seven metres in width.
The other bridge is 449.95m long and eight metres wide, with one crosswalk bridge. It is 195 metres long from start to finish.
This project is one of 153 railway crossings that fall under the DRR's responsibility.
Of those, 42 were interchange crossings, 10 have not been completed, and the other 111 are land-level crossings, with all of the partitions and light boxes installed.
The crossing project was approved due to the growing rate of road accidents in the area involving cars and trains, as well as the Transport Ministry's double-track railway developments, according to the DRR.