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Opinion: Rethinking Hun Sen Boulevard as a Safer, Commuter-Friendly Road
- Jan 19
- 6 min read
Research Fellow
Future Forum's research fellow Ses Aronsakda was published in Cambodianess on January 19th, 2026. Check out the original article HERE, and read it below!
The photo taken in April 2025 depicts Hun Sen Boulevard. Photo by Leng Sopheanith
Since its inauguration in 2017, Hun Sen Boulevard — also called the “60 meter road” as a nod to its right-of-way width — has quickly gained a reputation for being a dangerous stretch of road.
“The road is fast-paced, and if you slow down, sometimes we can get hit by others. Honestly, I feel nervous every time I drive on that road because everyone drives fast, and it's particularly challenging at crossroads,” said Sophea, who sells coffee near the entrance of AEON 3 Mall on Hun Sen Boulevard and spoke to Kiripost in January.
In the beginning of 2025 alone, there were multiple fatal crashes along the road, taking the lives of many victims. After a wave of online criticism, especially following the death of rapper RuthKo, the city installed much-needed safety features like barriers, traffic signs, and repainted traffic lanes. However, these changes fall short of addressing the systemic issues that make the road treacherous for motorists and pedestrians.
We might think that deadly roads and accidents are inevitable on city streets, but they can be mitigated with better urban planning. Hun Sen Boulevard is a prime example of how bad design and limited city planning can heighten the risks faced by road users.
What’s Wrong With Hun Sen Boulevard?
The boulevard’s multiple, wide lanes follow a passive design approach, where streets are built to accommodate multiple oversized driving lanes and generous road shoulders to handle high traffic volumes, which also increase the probability of serious crashes.
Prominent researchers from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University have raised the alarm on the increased risk posed by larger roadways. They argue that wide, simplified and unobstructed streets with multiple large driving lanes result in drivers losing their inhibitions, distorting their judgment of speed, and causing them to drive faster.
Moreover, intersections on this road contain multiple conflict points — vehicular paths that cross or merge, increasing the risk of crashes — between different road users, putting motorcyclists and people who walk, run or use bicycles at risk. If city planners only rely on a car-centric approach while designing roads and major thoroughfares, it will only lead to increased and more severe crashes.
In its current form, the boulevard is an active deterrent for people who want to walk or use public transit. Walkability along the street is poor because of the absence of sidewalks, inadequate shade for pedestrians, missing public seating and few pedestrian crossings along the nine-kilometer boulevard. This pushes people to use their motor vehicles for short trips.
Lastly, despite there being two bus lines along the boulevard, it is not well-suited for public transit because buses do not operate in dedicated bus lanes and are in conflict with vehicular traffic.
Given the boulevard's significant role in connecting central Phnom Penh to Dangkao district, the Techo International Airport, and the neighboring city of Takhmau, it is imperative to transform Hun Sen Boulevard into a multimodal street that is safety-oriented, space-efficient, and cost-effective.
Overcoming Car Dependency
Current urban mobility policy and design are holding back Hun Sen Boulevard and Phnom Penh as a whole from achieving sustainable urban mobility. All stakeholders must recognize that cars—and any car-related solution—are irreconcilable with the constraints of cities. This is because an automobile’s primary weakness is the physical space it occupies; no technology can remedy that. Their usage in cities where every square meter is precious is incompatible.
Therefore, solving congestion and road safety with solutions that primarily accommodate the use of private motor vehicles is an ill-fated endeavor. The reliance on adding new lanes to existing streets, construction of overpasses, and creation of new parking spaces are costly and hard to maintain, but they are ultimately ineffective in relieving congestion.
These so-called infrastructure upgrades are only increasing car usage and exacerbating existing congestion and traffic-related accidents. Instead, city planners can turn Hun Sen Boulevard into a model street that minimizes private vehicle dependency.
Firstly, authorities must invest in more public transit options, which are arguably better for decreasing congestion and increasing passenger safety. For short trips, residents should be encouraged to walk or use a bicycle, which means there needs to be an investment in better sidewalks and bicycle lanes, encouraging active commuters.
A complementary approach is to reform land-use and building regulations to force a shift from private vehicles to public transit use and active commutes.
For instance, parking regulations should be modified to discourage the creation of new parking spots along the boulevard. The road has rows of malls and apartment complexes — with many planned projects — and public bus routes, so it makes sense to limit the number of off-street parking spaces available to car users.
Furthermore, building regulations can be amended to incentivize the development of mixed-use and dense neighborhoods, which inherently reduce the need for motor vehicle use. This would ensure that retail, leisure, and work facilities are all within a confined area, reducing the need for motor vehicle use. For example, in zones near Hun Sen Boulevard, the plot size and floor-area ratio can be tweaked to encourage an optimal population density of at least 15,000 people per square kilometer.
Redesign Hun Sen Boulevard
City planners can incorporate innovative design changes to achieve the intended shift away from personal vehicle usage.
The first step will be to prioritize walkability. Investing in pedestrian infrastructure can lead to more positive outcomes. Globally, it has been seen that increasing expenditure on active commute infrastructure results in more positive impacts than spending on car-centric infrastructure. Similarly, the boulevard provides ample opportunity to invest in infrastructure that encourages walking and the use of non-motorized modes of transport.
This investment will have other cumulative effects., Walking forms the basis for most modes of commuting, such as people walking from a bus stop to their office or to other forms of public transport. Walking can also replace trips made using motor transport for short distances — say around 300 meters or less — provided there is adequate infrastructure to provide a safe commute and comfort for pedestrians.
The next step would be to narrow each lane from 3.50 m to 3.00 m, which is more appropriate for urban roads, and reduce the number of lanes to two lanes on either side of the boulevard. This intervention will not only improve road safety but also free up space for sidewalks and public transit.
A quick, reliable, and affordable bus transit system will compel more people to use it and shun their personal cars. With the increase in available space, we can implement designated bus lanes and modify stoplights to prioritize buses, which significantly boosts the speed and reliability of the bus routes. Moreover, installing bus bulbs helps speed up passengers getting on and off at bus stops while also providing space to add bus shelters to enhance user comfort.
While the priority should be to decrease parking spots, on-street parking is essential for brief stops at streetside stores and for unloading freight. If there is proper on-street parking, it will prevent people from parking on sidewalks. A paid parking system should be piloted to manage availability and deter automobiles from being parked on the street for long durations of time.
On-street parking should be added between the vehicular lanes and sidewalks, thus acting as a safety buffer for pedestrians. Some parking spaces should be designated for loading freight vehicles and others can serve as garbage collection points, mitigating congestion and danger caused by these vehicles.
Furthermore, to boost the efficiency and impact of bus lanes, city planners should license their usage to privately operated intracity vans and minibuses, which will soon form a critical link between Phnom Penh and the Techo International Airport. Additionally, emergency and service vehicles and VIP convoys should also be accommodated in the bus lanes.
Most importantly, improving safety at danger points like intersections requires redesigns that prioritize the safety of vulnerable road users. For example, consider the intersection at the corner of Mean Chey Avenue, close to the International School of Phnom Penh.
It won’t take much investment to implement basic interventions, like curb extensions at all four intersection corners, which would extend vision and awareness for commuters. Likewise, widening the median on Hun Sen Boulevard and adding a median on the intersecting street will reduce vehicle speed and provide a safe stopping point for pedestrians.
City planners can go further by raising the crosswalk zones to slow vehicles as they approach the pedestrian crossing points, which is especially crucial to deter speeding drivers on Hun Sen Boulevard. Improving intersection throughput should also be explored. For instance, to avoid disrupting traffic from behind and provide a safe place for commuters waiting to turn left, both streets should thin their road medians to include dedicated left turn lanes when approaching the intersection.
Furthermore, the safety of motorcyclists can be improved by adding a motorcycle waiting zone in front of the car waiting zone at traffic stops. This also smooths traffic flow because motorcyclists queuing in front of cars can clear the intersection quicker, rather than merging and weaving between cars.
For Hun Sen Boulevard to improve road safety and break free of gridlock, it must discard a car-centered approach to city planning and look to other safety-oriented, space-efficient, and cost-effective mobility measures. By taking inspiration from these recommendations, planners can set the first example of transforming an urban boulevard to achieve Phnom Penh's vision for sustainable urban mobility.
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