Luxury yacht halts Bangkok traffic as Krungthep Bridge opens

Drivers were understandably miffed as a huge traffic jam built up when the Krungthep Bridge in Bangkok opened to let a boat through. It is common for the bridge to open a handful of times each month, but usually to let through a big vessel belonging to the Royal Thai Navy. This time though, cars along Rama III Road were brought to a halt to allow a luxury yacht to pass through.

The luxury yacht was spotted yesterday afternoon as the drawbridge ground itself open and allowed the boat to sail through. Krungthep Bridge was built in 1959 and is thought to be the only remaining drawbridge that functions throughout Southeast Asia.

The bridge connects Thon Buri with the Phra Nakhon district of Bangkok, spanning the Chao Phraya River that cuts through the capital city. It remains in operation as a drawbridge because it allows Royal Thai Navy (RTN) ships to access the Bangkok Dock Company, a shipyard run by the state that specializes in repairing and maintaining RTN vessels.

The special opening for the luxury yacht yesterday left many drivers on the main road and nearby sidestreets frustrated as they sat in heavy traffic waiting for the bridge to close again, reported the Nation Thailand.

The bridge is a bascule design, a type of bridge that works like a seesaw using the weight of one side of the bridge to heft the other side into the air, allowing ships to pass through. After 70 years of operation, the Department of Rural Roads regularly has to close traffic to do maintenance on the elderly bridge.

It operates on an electric device that takes about 20 minutes to lift the sides of the bridge into the air. There’s also a backup mechanism powered by an engine that takes about 10 minutes longer to use. If all else fails, there’s a manual worm drive that bridge operators can spend about an hour working on manually to open the bridge.