• Burmese
Monday, July 14, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
29 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home From the Archive

Riding the Death Highway

Nyein Nyein by Nyein Nyein
May 15, 2014
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0 0
A A
Riding the Death Highway

With its undulating road surface

13.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Fourteen people were killed and 30 were injured when a coach bus skidded off a bridge earlier this week while driving on the Yangon-Naypyitaw-Mandalay highway. Accidents on this highly trafficked road have seen 80 people killed and 350 killed already this year. This article from the archives, first published in the Oct. 2013 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine, takes a look at the history of the “death highway” and why it’s so dangerous.

YANGON — In 2005, Myanmar’s junta ordered its military engineers to quickly build a new road that would connect Yangon with Mandalay and the country’s brand new capital Naypyitaw, and in 2011 the 366-mile road was completed.

But few funds were invested in safety measures and engineers admit the project was a rush job. As Myanmar’s roads become busier and more dangerous, the new road has emerged as the country’s foremost “death highway,” with at least 432 crashes resulting in 216 deaths and 678 injuries between March 2009 and April 2013, according to data from the Highway Police.

RelatedPosts

The Day a New Burma was Born

The Day a New Burma was Born

August 8, 2016
15.3k
From the Archive: Aung San Museum—Discover Burma’s Hero

From the Archive: Aung San Museum—Discover Burma’s Hero

July 18, 2016
4.1k
Looking Back At Gen Aung San’s Address to a Thai Delegation

Looking Back At Gen Aung San’s Address to a Thai Delegation

June 24, 2016
5k

In the first seven months of this year alone, there have been 146 fatal accidents, involving 84 deaths, the official figures show. And this is just the tip of the iceberg, as many motorists manage to avoid becoming deadly statistics by narrowly escaping life-threatening accidents.

In July, the highway claimed one of its most famous victims when well-known singer Soe Tay’s car punctured a tire, skidded off the road and plunged five meters into a gully near Meikhtila Township. The singer’s 22-year-old girlfriend Ma Chaw Chaw died on the spot, but he survived with severe head injuries.

Highway Police Col Nay Win said the fatal accident was one of many tragedies that are taking place on the highway. “We have to deal with several accident cases every day,” he said.

The high number of crashes along the Yangon-Naypyitaw-Mandalay highway is indicative of a growing national road-safety crisis. As the country’s road network expands and the number of cars plying its roads increases, so have the number of traffic deaths and injuries.

In 2012, there were 9,339 traffic accidents leading to 15,720 injuries and 2,653 deaths nationwide, according to government figures supplied to the World Health Organization. The numbers represent an almost 100 percent increase in fatalities in Myanmar since 2005, when 1,331 people were killed in traffic accidents across the country.

The number of traffic accidents is expected to rise even faster in coming years after the government lifted car import restrictions in October 2011, leading to a surge in car sales in the country.

Currently, the number of traffic deaths in Myanmar stands at 15 per 100,000 people, compared to 38 per 100,000 in Thailand. But the relatively low figure for Myanmar is hardly a sign of better road safety, as Thailand has 16 times more cars than its much poorer neighbor, according to recent auto market research carried out by Deutsche Bank.

And while the situation is alarming everywhere in Myanmar, the rate of deadly accidents on the highway linking the country’s three most important cities is especially worrisome, as it reflects the shoddiness of much that has been built since a frantic burst of construction began about a decade ago.

The former military regime prioritized rapid development of a new highway between Myanmar’s major cities after it began its construction of the new capital Naypyitaw. Located in central Myanmar between Yangon and Mandalay, Naypyitaw was completed in 2005.

Using forced labor and working at a demanding pace set by their superiors, military engineers built the Yangon to Naypyitaw stretch between October 2005 and March 2009 and the section from Naypyitaw to Mandalay between July 2008 and December 2011.

The project was plagued by accusations of corruption and a shortage of funds, and was built without support from multilateral donors such as the Asian Development Bank, which funds high-quality road projects across the region.

An overturned bus serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of travel on Myanmar’s longest highway. (Photo: Aung Nay Myo / The Irrawaddy)
An overturned bus serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of travel on Myanmar’s longest highway. (Photo: Aung Nay Myo / The Irrawaddy)

Ministry of Construction engineers acknowledge that the finished product left much to be desired—and that road safety was a low priority.

Along the highway there are few warning signs or light reflectors to indicate a bend in the road, while many areas also lack protective railings. There are, however, a number of unconventional warning signs that carry messages such as “Life Is A Journey, Complete It” and “Drive With Care, Make Accidents Rare.”

“There are weaknesses,” U Kyi Zaw Myint, chief engineer of the Ministry of Construction’s Public Works Enterprise, acknowledged in an interview with The Irrawaddy.

“The road’s construction was not perfect. Its completion was rushed due to an inadequate timeframe,” said U Kyi Zaw Myint, who oversaw the highway’s construction. “This was done because of the immediate need to commute between Yangon and Naypyitaw, after the previous government moved there.”

Engineers say, however, that this means the public has extra responsibility to drive safely on the below-standard highway, adding that accidents are usually due to drivers’ carelessness, or because they were speeding or drunk-driving.

U Kyaw Lin, director of the Public Works Enterprise, agrees that a lack of safety consciousness is a major cause of the high death rate on Myanmar’s roads. “Myanmar needs to adopt the practice of people wearing seatbelts,” he said, adding that many deaths are caused by people who drive recklessly and fail to fasten up.

U Myo Myint, the chief engineer of the Road Maintenance and Upgrading Unit under the Public Works Enterprise, also put the blame squarely on the shoulders of drivers, even as he acknowledged that the road was “incomplete.”

“The accidents happened to those who have less knowledge about the road. When something happened, they could not control their speed,” he said. “The risk could be reduced if drivers follow safe-driving guidelines.”

Some 5,000 passenger buses and cars drive on the road daily, according the Ministry of Construction. Heavier trucks transporting goods are only allowed to travel on the old Yangon-Mandalay highway.

According to some drivers who use the road regularly, tire punctures caused by the road’s concrete surface are a leading cause of accidents. “The concrete road causes flat tires, especially on hotter days,” said U Aung Myint Kyaw, a taxi driver.

The engineers said they are taking some provisional measures to improve road safety. “Now, we are working to find a way to make it a safe road with less cost,” said U Myo Myint. “We are conducting a survey of the needs for repairs together with foreign specialists.”

Engineers said that the government hopes to attract international donor funding to upgrade the road and widen it to eight lanes in the coming years.

The US government announced during President U Thein Sein’s trip to Washington in May that it would allocate some donor funding to improve the Yangon-Naypyitaw-Mandalay highway.

Additional reporting by May Sitt Paing.

Your Thoughts …
Tags: From The Irrawaddy Archive
Nyein Nyein

Nyein Nyein

The Irrawaddy

Similar Picks:

Where There’s Struggle, There’s Hope
Stories That Shaped Us

Where There’s Struggle, There’s Hope

by Kyaw Zwa Moe
September 23, 2013
3.1k

The 2007 uprising pitted the sons of Buddha against the forces of darkness. In the fight for democracy, hope is...

Read moreDetails
Hsipaw Haw—Abode of Tragic Shan Prince
Burma

Hsipaw Haw—Abode of Tragic Shan Prince

by Aung Zaw
December 22, 2015
6.3k

With news that a film based on the book “Twilight Over Burma,” is complete, The Irrawaddy revisits a trip to...

Read moreDetails
Who Is Peng Jiasheng?
Burma

Who Is Peng Jiasheng?

by The Irrawaddy
February 17, 2015
6.7k

As fighting rages between the Burma Army and the Kokang rebels, this 2009 article explains the background of aging Kokang...

Read moreDetails
From the Archive: Reflections on Kachin History
Ethnic Issues

From the Archive: Reflections on Kachin History

by Carlos Sardina Galache
February 29, 2016
3.9k

With the news that Baptist Rev. Ja Gun passed away on Monday in Laiza, Kachin State, The Irrawaddy revisits a...

Read moreDetails
The House on an Island
Culture

The House on an Island

by Aung Zaw
July 14, 2015
8.5k

The century-old Chin Tsong Palace, known locally as “Kanbawza Yeiktha,” was designated as a cultural heritage site by Burma’s Ministry...

Read moreDetails
Looking Back At Gen Aung San’s Address to a Thai Delegation
Burma

Looking Back At Gen Aung San’s Address to a Thai Delegation

by The Irrawaddy
June 24, 2016
5k

With State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi in Thailand, The Irrawaddy digs deep into its archives to republish a speech...

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
SilkAir to Launch Mandalay-Singapore Direct Flight

SilkAir to Launch Mandalay-Singapore Direct Flight

Burma’s Central Bank Expected to Submit Monetary Policy

Burma’s Central Bank Expected to Submit Monetary Policy

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

5 days ago
1.2k
China’s Surveillance State Watches Everyone, Everywhere

China’s Surveillance State Watches Everyone, Everywhere

6 days ago
1.1k

Most Read

  • ‘Las Vegas in Laos’: the Riverside City Awash With Crime

    ‘Las Vegas in Laos’: the Riverside City Awash With Crime

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Chief Thanks Trump for Shutting Down VOA and RFA

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • KIA Denies Rumor Chief Under House Arrest in China

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Deploying Conscripts in Major Push to Reclaim Lost Territory

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Chinese Investment Reshapes Myanmar’s N. Shan as MNDAA Consolidates Power

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.