The opening ceremony of the China-aided on National Road No. 3 reconstruction and expansion project in Cambodia was held today (March 2, 2022) over presided by The Prime Minister, Hun Sen. The project cost 219 million US dollars and was constructed with concessional loans from the government of China and funds from the government of Cambodia.
The implementation of this project aimed to improve the traffic conditions of Phnom Penh-Kampot-Sihanoukville and play an important role in improving the road network structure in southwestern Cambodia. The project had started in May 2018, in which the reconstruction and expansion road goes from Phnom Penh to Kampot via Kandal, Kampong Spue, and Takeo Provinces.
Take in the ceremony, the Prime Minister mentioned in his speech that, in the future, there will be set on some specific roads where possible to increase the speed in driving limited by 120 km/h. The speed limit of 80 km/h might be no longer correct, and we can set it at least up to 120km/h based on the road conditions. Abundant to our current traffic law which allows to speed up to 40 km/h on the town roads and 80 km/h on wide roads, but under the highways law the 120km/h will be allowed.
It’s noticed that the national road No. 3 is an important part of Cambodia’s trunk road network. It’s also an important route for people to travel and transport goods between Phnom Penh to Kampot, Kep, and Sihanoukville which are the potential provinces.
The total length of the reconstruction and expansion project is 135 kilometers. The original 7-meter-wide road sub-sections are expanded to 24.5 meters wide and 12 meters wide, with a design speed of 80 kilometers per hour. After completion and opening to traffic, it will only take 1 hour and 40 minutes to travel from Phnom Penh to the coastal Kampot province.
