New Myanmar Routes Opening Up, Exiting Tachilek

[SilverhawkUSA]

Last week my friend Armin Schoch informed me of the below information. This was further confirmed by Peter from Classic Bike Tours in an email.

Well, first of all I have been informed that the road from Myawaddy to Kawkareik (that is an awfull stretch of road we had to do twice in the past) is almost finished. I can't believe it myself but I've been assured over and over again that now there is no comparing to what we've seen last December. This definitely is a piece of good news, but even better news is that apparently it is possible to go from Taunggy (north of Inle Lake) in an easterly direction to Kengtung. Top Gear (BBC) did this just a couple of months ago in three old trucks. My Burmese partner did the route last month and showed my photos of the actual road. It is definitely motorable although quite narrow. Now that this is made possible we can do proper loop on this journey, going from Mae Sot, Myawaddy into Burma and then leave it via Tachilek / Mae Sai. A big plus is that the road from Inle Lake to Tachilek along the border is way more interesting than leaving Burma to the South on its state highways. The tour will also be one day shorter that way and the distances towards the end become shorter as well, since we don't have to do the detour via Chiang Mai...

They are planning a tour along the new route for December 2014.

I previously posted information regarding the new route entering from Mae Sot here: https://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorcycle-forum/showthread.php/39863-New-Highway-from-Mae-Sot-Myawaddi-in-2014

You can contact Peter at [email protected] for more information. Tell Peter 'Dave Early' referred you. :thumbup:

 

[TonyBKK]

Exciting news! Apparently they are not bothering to fix the existing road, but are building a brand new road to the south of the existing road that will be a huge improvement. This is part of the new highway that will some day link Mae Sot, Thailand to Moreh, India. You can see part of the new road on Google Earth :thumbup:

 

[SilverhawkUSA]

TonyBKK;299210 wrote: Exciting news! Apparently they are not bothering to fix the existing road, but are building a brand new road to the south of the existing road that will be a huge improvement. This is part of the new highway that will some day link Mae Sot, Thailand to Moreh, India. You can see part of the new road on Google Earth :thumbup:

I believe that is what I said in my other post referenced above.

 

[TonyBKK]

SilverhawkUSA;299226 wrote: I believe that is what I said in my other post referenced above.

Indeed you did! Sorry, I neglected to click on your link. My bad

 

[blackwolf]

SilverhawkUSA;299202 wrote: Last week my friend Armin Schoch informed me of the below information. This was further confirmed by Peter from Classic Bike Tours in an email.

They are planning a tour along the new route for December 2014.

I previously posted information regarding the new route entering from Mae Sot here: https://www.gt-rider.com/thailand-motorcycle-forum/showthread.php/39863-New-Highway-from-Mae-Sot-Myawaddi-in-2014

You can contact Peter at [email protected] for more information. Tell Peter 'Dave Early' referred you. :thumbup:

I went on the new road in both directions, in late Jan/early Feb of this year. It will officially open around June/July this year. Nowadays you can cross the new road if you start very early in the morning, arriving at the start of the road in either direction between roughly 5am and 6.30am only.

Not sure if motorcycle tours will be allowed to use this road until it is officially open since roadworks are still ongoing. My hunch is that permission won't be granted yet but you never know. It takes just 40 mins or so to travel across the road, probably this will come down to 30 mins once the road is 100% complete. Currently, it appears to be around 80% complete, with most sections from Myawady towards the half-way mark basically finished, while towards Kawkareik, a couple of bridges and the final stretch of unpaved road still need to be finished before the road is officially opened. The road itself bypasses Kawkareik township although most drivers will still enter Kawkareik as the final stretch needs to be raised and paved and is currently much lower than the existing road it joins up to.