The Transport Ministry is planning to submit on Tuesday a proposal for a new expressway that would link the Don Muang Tollway with Motorway 6 that runs to Nakhon Ratchasima.
According to Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit, the proposed Motorway 5 (M5) project will see an elevated, six-lane, restricted access road built along Phahon Yothin Road, beginning at the Rangsit interchange in Pathum Thani and ending at Bang Pa-in interchange in Ayutthaya.
When completed, the 22-kilometre motorway, with seven entry/exit ramps, will connect the Don Muang Tollway with Motorway 6, which runs from Bang Pa-In to Nakhon Ratchasima.
Mr Suriya said the M5 will also help reduce traffic congestion in the northern parts of the capital.
Once the project is approved by the cabinet, the Department of Land Transport will seek contractors to carry out the project, which Mr Suriya said should be ready for service "by 2029."
The new motorway will require about 31.3 billion baht in investment, and the project will be managed as a public-private partnership (PPP), he said. The ministry will also submit a proposal to build an 8.84-km extension to the State Railway of Thailand’s (SRT) Red Line from Rangsit Station to Thammasat University’s Rangsit Campus.
Mr Suriya hopes the project will be approved by the end of this month as a New Year’s gift for commuters.
When asked about the plan to extend other sections of the Red Line, Mr Suriya said the plan to construct a 20.5-km section from Siriraj Hospital to Salaya is still in its public hearing process.
The SRT has also decided to revise the Red Line’s eastern extension (Bang Sue-Phaya Thai-Makkasan-Hua Mak) and southern section (Bang Sue-Hua Lamphong) after an environmental impact assessment, he said.
