In its inaugural toll-free month, the Phnom Penh-Sihanouk Expressway received about 20,000 vehicles daily and no shortage of growing pains, with some drivers speeding, driving on the wrong side of the road and stopping in the emergency lane to take pictures, a spokesperson for the Transport Ministry said Friday.
As the new Sihanoukville expressway opened over the weekend, one set of road signs stood out: an apparent directive for “no axes,” which a company official later explained was meant to remind motorists to not cut down forests along the road.
Final checks ahead of Saturday’s Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville expressway opening have found residents cutting barbed wire fencing so they can graze cows by the road and sell food to motorists, the Transport Ministry said.
The Transport Ministry has “never allowed” anyone to use the under-construction Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway — but motorists are using it anyway, leading to repeated accidents including a head-on collision on Monday that injured six people.
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