Thailand road development planning

A group of experts from Thailand have been visiting the UK to research methods that would help boost road development. The planning and engineering team from Thailand’s Department of Rural Roads (DRR) have been holding meetings with UK counterparts about adopting a scheme similar to its Highways Authority Approval Scheme (HAPAS). The DRR has the responsibility for over 47,700km of Thailand’s 396,600km road network, upgrading paved and earth roads and delivering bridge projects. This is intended to boost so
May 2, 2019 Read time: 3 mins
A group of experts from Thailand have been visiting the UK to research methods that would help boost road development. The planning and engineering team from Thailand’s Department of Rural Roads (DRR) have been holding meetings with UK counterparts about adopting a scheme similar to its Highways Authority Approval Scheme (HAPAS).


The DRR has the responsibility for over 47,700km of Thailand’s 396,600km road network, upgrading paved and earth roads and delivering bridge projects. This is intended to boost social, economic and tourism related activities. The department is pushing ahead with improvements in the quality and consistency of highway construction. The DRR delegation says it is keen to understand how the UK agrees standards and certificates new and innovate highway construction products.

“If we don’t have the right standards local governments will use many products and the quality of these products will not be consistent,” Chakree Bamrumgwong, DRR director of Office of Road Safety Audit, explained. “Some will be good and some will be not so good so we want to standardise it. It is very useful to learn.”

The DRR now intends to work towards establishing a scheme similar to HAPAS: “The DRR needs to set up a highways material standard like HAPAS for the quality control of the material and products used in Thailand’s rural and local roads. We learned a lot about the HAPAS system and other useful information, all of which supports our thinking to do more for the future,” said Mr Bamrumgwong.

The DRR has a 10 year plan to centralise and standardise highways specifications. At present it utilises predominantly American standards for highway product specification and design and, where they prove insufficient, looks to other international standards - including British Standards - to translate into its projects. The department also intends to take the lead on encouraging all agencies involved in the Thai road network to collaborate in a further move to drive up product and safety standards.

While in the UK, the DRR representatives also visited the Department for Transport’s Local Transport Group, 8100 Highways England, the National Traffic Operation Centre and the Nottingham Transportation Engineering Centre, where a Memorandum of Understanding for technical co-operation between the DRR and NTEC was signed.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • The UK’s pothole crisis is causing vehicle damage and crashes
    July 1, 2019
    The poor state of maintenance of UK roads is a factor in many crashes while also causing damage to vehicles according to road safety charity, IAM RoadSmart. In a bid to address the issue, IAM RoadSmart is calling for a long-term plan to tackle the problem. According to a survey it conducted, nearly 50% of the respondents have experienced pothole damage to their vehicles. The government’s Transport Select Committee has issued a report stating that the current short-term approach to financing road maintenan
    Read More
  • CEA conference 2018 – focusing on technology solutions
    May 2, 2018
    New technology and reduced machine emissions were amongst the key topics at the CEA conference in London - Mike Woof writes. Construction machine manufacturers are going to have to find new solutions if targets on emissions controls are going to be met. This is a clear viewpoint for the industry. But as the speakers at the recent CEA conference in London showed, there are differing opinions on how that will be achieved and what technical solutions will come to the fore. Duncan Riding, business development
    Read More
  • Higher and higher: David Smith argues for more recycled asphalt
    May 16, 2017
    Debate continues to swirl around the use increased recycled asphalt for road surfaces. David Smith, development director at FM Conway urges more cross-sector work to prove the case for a higher recycled asphalt content. The use of recycled materials within our road network is well-established, but a persistent debate continues around the extent to which asphalt can be reused. Although increasing the proportion of recycled asphalt offers significant economic and environmental benefits, there remains a resist
    Read More
  • Plain sailing for Caterpillar’s PM 300 series
    February 22, 2019
    Caterpillar’s revamped small cold planers have upped the stakes in the urban refurbishing market. World Highways deputy editor David Arminas recently caught up with A.J. Lee, global segment manager, on Spain’s Costa del Sol
    Read More

Highlighted Content