New M81 motorway for faster travel between Bangkok and Kanchanaburi

https://www.motorway-m81.com/en/

New western Thailand motorway to be open for free during Songkran

On my way back to Bangkok yesterday after Songkran I tried out the new stretch of M81 motorway between Kanchanaburi and Nakhon Pathom. This section of the road was open for free during the Songkran period and according to press reports will also be open for weekends (Friday 3pm to Sunday) from April 26th.
When fully completed this motorway will be between Kanchanaburi and Bang Yai in Nonthaburi province (to the northwest of Bangkok).

The road was very good, with 2 lanes in each direction of travel - although it looks like the section between Nakhon Pathom and Bang Yai will have 3 lanes in each direction as far as I could make out.
Being only 2 lanes, there were 80 km speed limit signs but everyone seemed to be travelling at 120 km/hr anyway. Only saw one police car, that was sitting at the hard shoulder and ignoring everyone speeding past.
The views are great, as the road cuts through farmland and countryside.

Taking this section of motorway took about 30 to 40 minutes off my journey time yesterday - and this should be even better when the section between Nakhon Pathom and Bangyai is completed, as normally the most painful part of my weekend journey is between Pinklao area of Bangkok and Nakhon Pathom.
I haven't seen any information on what the toll prices will be when the motorway is fully open to the public in January 2025.

I will try the road in the other direction when I next head back home - now I have worked out where the entrance is at Nakhon Pathom! It's not on my GPS yet......

That will help open up Kan for weekend trips by Bkk-ers. I used to often go on motorbike rides up there from around 2008-2018 and remember them starting to build it. That part was definitely the least interesting part of the journey so no harm in able to blast through it.


Isn't it, or wasn't it part of a plan to go to the border at.... Phu Nam Rom? As a big freight transportation project that would go from the big port in Dawei in Myanmar, so all the freight and cargo can go from Dawei in Myanmar, to Bangkok, then up to China?