Tsubasa Bridge (Khmer: ស្ពានត្សឹបាសា), also known as Neak Loeung Bridge (ស្ពានអ្នកលឿង), located in Kandal Province over Mekong river on National Roald #1 (about 60km south east of Phnom Penh). It links Phnom Penh, then Kandal province to Prey Veng Province and continue to Svay Rieng, then to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. This bridge was a donation of the Japanese government (Cambodia’s third Japanese donated bridge, that’s why it was named in Japanese; translated as Wings) and plays very important roles in local economy. It is mainly used by locals who are residents of Prey Veng and Svay Rieng. It is also used internationally for people travel from Phnom Penh to Vietnam. This bridge is Cambodia’s longest bridge. The structure is a three span stay cable bridge crossing the Mekong River.
- Total length: 2,215 m
- Construction started: February 12, 2011
- Location: Neak Loeung
- Opened: April 6, 2015
- Clearance below: 38 m
- Width: 17 m
Closed-up photo of the bridge taken by iPhone7+, on a running vehicle
According to International database & structure,
- The main bridge is 640 m long and divided into three spans with lengths of 155 m, 330 m & 155 m.
- The two pylons are 121 m high measured from the pile cap and consist of two individual pillars on the outside of the bridge that are connected by several cross beams.
- In total, 930 t stay cables were installed for this bridge.
- The main girder has a cross-section of 17 m and a height of 1.8 m
I am very excited to start this article because it is on the way to my hometown. Every time I go home, I have to cross this bridge. Before the bridge was constructed, 3 ferries were used to cross the river. It did not only consume time for travel, money on tickets or costs of gasoline when waiting in line for crossing the river, but often there were incidents of car overrode the ferry and jumped into the river, resulting in casualty of families/individuals. During public holidays, especially Cambodian New Year (Mid-April) and Pjum Ben festivals (Late Sept or early October), several thousands of people (including myself, families and relatives) travelled home to our hometown and families. The congestion could last for 5-13 hours during those times, very crowded, could hardly breath. We had to wake up at 3-4am to get to the ferry points (nearby the bridge this day), if late (6-7am), you got stuck for several hours on the distance for just about 100km distance from Phnom Penh-home. It was very hard to travel home those days. Now, with this bridge, we can even go home every weekend or at night. Thanks to the Japanese government and people with kindness for this bridge’s donation.
- Since Prey Veng does not have many tourist attractions, this bridge is an icon for this province now.
- People would stop by the bridge just to relax and take some photos.
- Good time to shoot the photos at the bridge: at sunrise and sunset, at night and full moon
- It helps us a lot in our daily lives, in case of emergency, getting rid of time and obstacles on the way. We can join families’ gatherings, functions and many other things at hometown.
- Thanks to this bridge, I could visit home more frequent than the last 10-15 years. Visiting hometown is very easy these days, less time consuming (takes about 2-3hours to reach home), less expensive as I could take a taxi for just 2.5$-4$ one way home or driving a car for only 20$ on gasoline.
- Even it gets stuck sometimes during peak holidays, it doesn’t take long like when we used ferries.
Even though there are benefits from the bridge, there are also disadvantages to other groups of people who lost incomes because of the bridge such as the owner of the ferry, workers who worked on the ferry, street sellers who sells things on the ferry as well as businesses along the way to ferry terminals.
Note: all photos of the bridge were taken by iPhone 7+ on a running car .
From long distance [2020]
From long distance: did you notice the vehicles on the bridge - too many of them, right? This was taken from one of my trips home during public holidays. Imagine in the hot sun and you get stuck for hours, with the kids and older people on board… thanks to the bridge. It helps us in a million way! [2020]
Getting busy on weekends/public holiday [2020]
From my taxi’s window - 2020
Looking at the bridge from another site of the river
The foundation of the bridge - 2021
When constructed, 2013 and ready to use in 2015
When we crossed the river by ferry (2013): during the day and at night time [photos taken by phone]
