Si Rat Expressway

The Si Rat Expressway (ทางพิเศษศรีรัช), also known as the Second Stage Expressway System (ระบบทางด่วนขั้นที่ 2), is an expressway in Thailand, located in Bangkok and Nonthaburi province. It is the second expressway to be opened in the country and is 38.4 kilometres in length. The expressway has played an important role in alleviating ground-level road traffic in Bangkok. It is a controlled-access toll road.

History
Due to a significant increase in road traffic in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region, and after the Chaloem Maha Nakhon Expressway was opened, a second expressway was proposed in order to alleviate the increased traffic. The Expressway Authority of Thailand (EXAT) assigned Bangkok Expressway and Metro (BEM) to construct this expressway and a contract was signed on 22 December 1988.

The contract was so corrupted that lead to the court order. Sukavich Rangsitpolsaid that the authority had sought the intervention of the court following reports that motorists, resentful at being stuck in jams for hours while the completed expressway was unused, might resort to violence unless it was immediately opened.

He said that Bangkok Expressway had no reason to continue to block the highway opening because the government last month reversed an earlier decision and reinstated the toll of 30 baht ($1.20) that had originally been agreed to.

Expressway construction was opened in four stages, named A to D. Section A between Pracha Chuen–Phaya Thai–Phra Ram 9 was opened on 2 September 1993 along with Section C between Phra Ram 9–Srinagarindra which opened on the same day. Section B between Phaya Thai–Bang Khlo opened on 6 October 1996. Section D between Pracha Chuen–Chaeng Watthana opened on 1 April 2000.

According to an official EXAT annual report, the expressway was used by 200,645,817 cars in the 2022 fiscal year, with an average of 579,901 cars per day.