World's Longest and Widest Box Girder Expressway Bridge

Bangna-Bangphli-Bangpakong Expressway, Thailand (BBBE) dubbed as the world's longest elevated expressway bridge (about 55-kilometre) and also the widest (27.2 meters) carrying 6 lanes traffic 3 in each direction, was built along the median of highway 34 from Bangna to Chonburi. This expressway is part of the networks of expressway planned by the Expressway and Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (ETA) to ease the flow of traffic in and around the metropolitan Bangkok. Specifically, this superhighway is meant to serve the Eastern Seaboard Area and the soon to be completed Bangkok Second International Airport.

Apart from this 55 kilometers main expressway, there is also an additional of 26 ramps or about 40 kilometers in length, two elevated mainline toll plazas with surveillance buildings, 11 platforms for toll surveillance, two police stations, and associated at-grade works. The total bridge deck area is 1,900,000 m2. All these were completed at a record time of only fifty-three months overall construction period by employing a state-ofthe- art design and construction technique known as the "Precast Segmental Technology of Bridge Construction".

This turnkey project was undertaken by a joint venture company called JV-BBCD composed of Germany's Bilfinger + Berger and Thailand's Ch. Karnchang Public Company as the lead partners. These two companies havefor years been a part of Bangkok's implementation of networks of elevated expressways, now to a record total length of expressways built in and around the city of 132 km or 3,598,000 square meters of deck area or 5,854 spans total including this project.

Alignment and Foundation Design was done by the Asian Engineering Consultants (AEC) and the Superstructure and Column Design was done by the inventor of the Segmental Technology of Bridge Construction, Jean Muller International (JMI). The design of selected parts was reviewed by ACECOMS, AIT.