PNH-3 (Bhutan)

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Primary National Highway 3

Trashigang–Samdrup Jongkhar Highway
PNH-3 highlighted in red
Route information
Length180 km[1] (110 mi)
Major junctions
From PNH-1 in Trashigang
East end NH 127D in Samdrup Jongkhar along with the border of Assam, India
Location
CountryBhutan
Highway system

The Primary National Highway 3, abbreviated as PNH-3 and known as the Trashigang–Samdrup Jongkhar Highway (Dzongkha: བཀྲིས་སྒང་བསམ་གྲུབ་ལྗོངས་མཁར་གཞུང་ལམ།) and alternatively known as the Eastern Highway, is a national road that connects several population centers in the far east of Bhutan to the Indian border.

This road was formerly known as State Lam 3 (SL-3)[2] prior to the standardization of highways that occurred in the mid-2010s.

History

View of the Indo-Bhutan Gate from the PNH-3 at Samdrup Jongkhar

The road was originally built during the 1960s by the DANTAK Project.[3] The construction of the Highway to Samdrup Jongkhar plus the implementation of the Forest Act enacted in 1969 caused the partial movement of farmers in several gewogs to population centers near PNH-3.[a] In 2007, road expansion projects began, although there were several irregularities and delays at the time of construction.[5]

In mid-2013, due to the intense rainy season caused several landslides around PNH-3 notably around Migtangkhar.[6] In September 2015, the royal government of Bhutan officially opened the Singye Thegchhog Zam Bridge located at Bodeydrang within the Kanglung Gewog.[7] As of 2019, blacktopping has begun between the Wamrong and Tshelingkhor sectors of PNH-3, which are approximately 25 km in length.[8]

In mid 2022, several landslides were reported around the Narphung locality paralyzing traffic on the PNH-3 around Samdrup Jongkhar, causing the DANTAK Project to employ more than 20 vehicles to unblock the road.[9] By the end of May 2023, the expansion of the sections of the PNH-3 connecting Moshi to Tshelingkhor was completed with the help of the DANTAK Project.[10]

Route description

View of the PNH-3 passing over the old bridge of Khaling. This bridge was replaced by the Gomchhu Zam (གོམ་ཆུ་ཟམ།) which was officially opened in October 2023 and was built by the Border Roads Organization of the DANTAK Project.[11]

Trashigang District

The road goes much further south and passes through the urban center of Kanglung (བཀང་ལུང་།), and then heads to the area around Yongphula Domestic Airport (ཡོན་ཕུག་ལ་ནང་མཁོད་གནམ་ཐང་།). Then, PNH-3 heads much further southeast and connects the Karma Thegsum Dechenling Monastery.

The PNH-3 passes around the urban center of Khaling (ཁ་གླིང་) and then heads to the Kharungla Forest.[b] PNH-3 goes much further southwest and heads to the town of Wamrong (ལྦམ་རོང་). The PNH-3 crosses part of the mountains until it reaches the urban center of the town of Riserboo (རི་སེད་བུ་).

Pemagatshel District

The PNH-3 passes briefly through the mountainous area at the eastern tip of the Pemagatshel District. Then, the route goes around Tshelingkhor (ཚེ་གླིང་འཁོར།).

Samdrup Jongkhar District

The Highway subsequently goes much further south and crosses the urban center of Narphung (ནར་ཕུང). The primary road goes much further south and passes around the town of Deothang/Dewathang (དབེ་བ་ཐང་). The road subsequently crosses the Dungsumchu River.[13] PNH-3 heads towards the district capital until it reaches the border with Assam in India.

Major intersections

District (Dzongkhag)Block (Gewog)kmmiDestinationsNotes
TrashigangSamkhar Gewog00.0 PNH-1Colloquially known as the “Thimphu - Trashigang Highway”.
PemagatshelZobel Gewog10465SNH-2[14]Colloquially known as the “Tshelingkhor - Kothakpa Road”.[c]
Samdrup JongkharDewathang Gewog180110 NH 127DColloquially known as the “Tamulpur - Darranga Road”.
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

External links

Notes

  1. ^ Quote: "However, improved accessibility to large market in Samdrup Jongkhar after the construction of National Highway, economic value of cultivating potato was increased and dryland near the village was gradually expanded. In exchange, labor input for shifting cultivation was diminished. After Forest Act in 1969, the place of main agricultural activity was shifted from forests to permanent dryland near the village." (Page 46)[4]
  2. ^ Quote: "The Eastern Highway that connects the Trashigang with Samdrup Jongkhar, traverses the study area. The study area covers about 603.77 ha, which is 8.83% of the total area of KKFMU" (Page 2)[12]
  3. ^ The route is part of the Secondary National Highway of the Bhutanese Road System. (Page 11)[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "Road Classification System in Bhutan" (PDF). Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. 2014. p. 10.
  2. ^ Geological Survey of India, ed. (2004). Records of the Geological Survey of India. p. 71.
  3. ^ Zangley, Dasho (2023-03-18). "A day in Samdrupjongkhar Throm and Daranga, Assam". Kuensel Online. Retrieved 2025-01-12.
  4. ^ Akamatsu, Yoshio (2012). "Agricultural history and current rural life in Khaling, Trashigang, Bhutan" (PDF). Journal of Agroforestry and Environment. ISSN 1995-6983.
  5. ^ Zangpo, Thukten (2019-06-13). "MoWHS minister quizzed on progress of Trashigang-Samdrup Jongkhar road". Business Bhutan. Retrieved 2025-01-15.
  6. ^ Zangmo, Tanden (2013-08-07). "Frequent road blocks in the eastern highway". The Bhutanese. Retrieved 2025-01-15.
  7. ^ "Gyaltshab inaugurates bridge and dairy plant". The Bhutanese. 2015-10-03. Retrieved 2025-01-15.
  8. ^ Darjay, Sonam (2023-02-09). "Trashigang-Samdrup Jongkhar highway widening and blacktopping project enters 16th year". BBS. Retrieved 2025-01-15.
  9. ^ Wangchuk, Kelzang (2022-06-20). "Major Narphung blocks cleared". Kuensel Online. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
  10. ^ "Trashigang–Samdrupjongkhar highway widening completes after 16 years". Kuensel Online. 2023-05-24. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
  11. ^ "Picture story". Kuensel Online. 2023-11-01. Retrieved 2025-01-16. Trashigang dzongdag, Ugyen Dorji, inaugurated a 24-metre Class 70 reinforced concrete bridge in Khaling Gewog yesterday. The bridge is at a higher level than the existing girder bridge which is of lower capacity and capable of limited traffic.
  12. ^ Chaten, Chaten & Nidup, Tshering (2013). "Snake diversity at Sherubtse Natural Reserve Study Area (SNRSA), Khaling Kharungla Forest Management Unit (KKFMU)". Sherub Doenme: The Research Journal of Sherubtse College. Vol. 12, no. 1. pp. 1–9.
  13. ^ "Flood Risk Assessment for Dungsumchu in Samdrupjongkhar Thromde" (PDF). Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport of Bhutan. p. 3. Retrieved 2025-01-15.
  14. ^ Google (2025-01-09). "Driving directions from Trashigang to Tshelingkhor" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 2025-01-09.