The Department of Bridges under the Ministry of Construction is building Thanlwin Bridge (Takaw) on the Meiktila-Taunggyi-Kengtung-Tachilek road, in Kunhing Township, Namsang District of Shan State (South), and now 84 per cent of construction work has been completed.
The new Thanlwin Bridge (Takaw) No 5/282 about 70 ft from the 780 ft long old Thanlwin Bridge (Takaw) is being constructed by 12 experienced engineers including Bridge Construction Task Force (3), Special Task Force (12) and the Deputy Director (Civil), and over 200 workers. Currently, the foundation and sub-structure are completed and the installations of steel beam and steel box girder are in progress, according to the Deputy Director (Civil), in charge of bridge construction project.
The old Thanlwin Bridge (Takaw) mainly connects Shan State (South) and Shan State (East) on Meiktila-Taunggyi-Kengtung-Tachilek Road, which is vital to access to Laos, Thailand and China through Kengtung and Tachilek from the central part of Myanmar. As the road is being used to transport goods, the Ministry of Construction has upgraded the bridges on the road to endure a load capacity of 60 tonnes.
Moreover, the old Thanlwin Bridge (Takaw) was built in 1965 by Chinese and Myanmar engineers to mark the Myanmar-China Friendship. The construction took nine years from 1965 to 1974. The new Thanlwin Bridge (Takaw) was constructed with the load capacity of 60 tonnes as the withstanding of the 45-year-old bridge has been reduced to 24 tonnes due to its deterioration.
The new Thanlwin Bridge (Takaw) is 351 metres long (1,151.631 ft), and is made of a steel box girder with reinforced concrete floor. The foundation is built of 2.74 metres Caisson Foundation and 1.5 metres bored piles. There are also seven spans with different width.
The bridge is 39.4 feet wide while 20 feet and six inches wide for carriageway, four feet and five inches wide for a sidewalk on each side, with a load capacity of 60 tonnes.
The waterway clearance of the bridge is 360 feet in width and 45 feet in height.
The bridge construction started in April 2018, and the Meiktila-Taunggyi-Kengtung-Tachilek road will also be a key road for the country’s market economy as export-import products will be transported through the road and the bridge. — Pwint Thitsar/KTZH
