More than 1 million vehicles had travelled on Cambodia's first-ever expressway in the first three months since its inauguration in October last year, according to data released by the freeway operator on Monday.

"From Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2022, the total traffic volume on the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway was 1,112,590," the Cambodian PPSHV Expressway company's data showed.

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said recently that using the expressway saved both money and time.

"I'd like to call on the owners of trucking companies to use the expressway," he said in a speech during a road inauguration in Preah Sihanouk province. "Using the expressway costs less than using the regular road, saving both fuel and time in supply chains."

Invested by the China Road and Bridge Corporation with 2 billion U.S. dollars, the 187-km expressway connects the capital Phnom Penh with the international deep-water seaport province of Preah Sihanouk.

Vehicles will be able to reach their destinations within two hours through the four-lane expressway paved with asphalt concrete.

Sareth Sreypich, a 29-year-old supervisor at the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway's toll stations, said the freeway has played an important role in enhancing the efficiency of travels and logistic system in the Southeast Asian nation.

"Previously, we traveled on National Road 4, it took up to five hours, but now traveling on the expressway only takes two hours," she told Xinhua. "Drivers say that since there is the expressway, their travel is easy; it saves them money and reduces their travel time."

Sreypich said it costs only 12 U.S. dollars for a family car for a single trip between the two destinations.

She said previously container trucks or lorries spent one or two days to travel from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville and vice versa, but with the expressway, they could travel two or three times per day.