Asphalt Road, why is it called "Yangmatoi Road" ?




Have you ever wondered that every road we drive through day such as Asphalt Road, why is it called "Yangmatoi Road"?
“Asphalt” is a material extracted from crude oil which is caused by mixing between hydrocarbon compounds and other substances, it looks like a viscous liquid, black, with the ability to hold, so people use Asphalt for repair or road construction.


Asphalt that used in road construction is Asphalt mixed with various materials such as crushed stone and sand, which we will call this material as Asphalt Concrete.


The origin name of “Asphalt Road or in Thai called Yangmatoi Road”, it must be told back to the reign of King Rama VI, when a paved road was tried on at Charoen Krung Road by a French paved road company Concessions for road construction. Thai people at that time are not yet known Asphalt as a material used to pave the road. Therefore, the paving material is called "rubber" or “Yang” in Thai because of the nature of Asphalt, a viscous liquid like rubber from trees.


In the part of the word "Matoi", it is a diversion from the name of a company that has received a road construction concession. This company is called "Maltoy", which Thai people will call the road that the Maltoy Company built as "Yang Maltoy Road" and was later called and gradually distorted to “Yangmatoi Road” later on to the present.