Chiang Rai will soon connect to Laos at Chiang Khong a new highway then connects quickly to China.
The R3a highway will soon connect Chiang Rai to Yunnan China
One river one land: The fourth Thai-Lao bridge is about to take shape to furtherexpand trade volume among six regional countries by Phitsanu Thepthong

The newly proposed fourth Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge to be built across the Mekong River in Chiang Rai soon will further increase trade and travel not only between the two countries but also among the six countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).
The third Thai-Lao bridge linking Nakhon Panom with Khammuan is now 70% completed and will open for public use in November this year.
The GMS comprises countries sharing the Mekong River: Cambodia Laos Burma Thailand Vietnam and China's Yunnan province and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
The bidding for the construction contract of the new bridge over the Mekong River was held last year according to Viroon Kumpilo president of the Chiang Rai Chamber of Commerce.
"The cost of the bridge is estimated at approximately 1.4 billion baht and will be equally funded by the Chinese and Thai governments" he told the Bangkok Post.
The project part of North-South Economic Corridor International Bridge Project will link Hueisay of Bo Keo in Laos and Chiang Khong district of Chiang Rai.
"It will connect with Route 3A (East) running between Bangkok Chiang Rai and Kunming in South China and wouldbenefit commercial traffic between the two countries through Laos's Laungnamtha province" he said.
The new bridge is expected to be completed by Dec 10 next year and will be located at Ban Don Maha Wan Chiang Khong and Ban Don Khee Nok Hueisay Bo Keo. Mr Viroon expects that the trade potential of both lignite imports from Laos and Thai consumer goods and commodities will be stimulated by the new route.

Meanwhile he noted that a second larger port is now under construction in Chiang Rai's Chiang Saen district in order to link Mekong River routes between China Laos Burma and Thailand. The original Chiang Saen port is nowoverwhelmed by the increase in cross-border traffic.
The construction work of the fourth bridge is going to start soon around March this year said Mr Viroon adding that the date of the foundation stone-laying or ground-breaking ceremony was being worked out.
Meanwhile the Vientiane Times newspaper quoted Thaworn Worabutre the deputy director of the bridge construction project as saying that the construction work for the 480-metre-long bridge linking Hueisai and Chiang Khong will take about 30 months to complete.
The fourth bridge construction when finished could link Thailand via Laos and connect to southern China as only a 245-kilometre-long road" he said.
The CR5-KT Group of China and Krung Thon Engineering of Thailand jointly constructed the facilities of the 11-km-long road with the bridge with a combined budget of Thailand and China of US$44.8 million (1.38 billion baht) plus aconsulting fee of 2.5 million baht.
For the financing of the bridge Beijing has granted a loan of US$20 million through the Lao government in 2008 for spending on bridge construction and the Thai government also spent about 700 million baht said Mr Viroon.
Now some land expropriations have been made with compensation payments also for land houses livestock and farms" he added.
Meanwhile the third Thai-Lao friendship bridge linking Thailand's Nakhon Panom and Khammuan in Laos is also expected to be finished late this year by the Thai Highways Department.

Thailand supported the construction work of the third bridge at a cost of 1.76 billion baht for the 1423-metre-long and 13-metre-wide structure.
According to Veera Ruangsuksriwong director-general of the Highways Department the bridge now 70% completed is ahead of schedule and it is expected to open for public use in November this year.
When completed these bridges will benefit the economies trade tourism investment culture transport logisticsand travel links of the two countries in the near future.
The second Thai-Lao Bridge linking Mukdahan with Savannakhet was completed and opened for service in 2006. At present more than 5000 vehicles use the bridge daily generating taxes and fee revenue to the government of 60000 baht a day on average.
The first Thai-Lao Bridge between Nong Khai and Vientiane was opened for public use several years ago.
Trade with Burma and Laos along the Chiang Rai border from January to November 2010 was worth 18.27 billion baht with Thai exports accounting for 15.51 billion raising the country's trade surplus by 38.6% to 12.76 billion.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/221957/thai-lao-friendship-bridges-no-3-and-4