Chinese companies then built a new, reportedly 110 m (360 ft) long and significantly wider, twin-pier reinforced concrete girder bridge alongside it, which opened in June 2019.

[citation needed] The governments of both states have established a zone with legal and administrative facilitation for the entry and exchange of goods for the population living there within a radius of 30 km (19 mi) from the bridge.

This complex procedure is carried out for customs and other administrative reasons, and it is also due to the change in the side of the road (left-hand and right-hand traffic).

Around 500 Nepalese cross the Friendship Bridge every day to sell their products or buy Chinese goods for their own use or for resale in their home country.

In addition, numerous tourists cross the bridge, including mountaineers who want to climb Mount Everest from the Chinese side.

Package tourists arriving from Kathmandu usually have to exit the bus in Nepal and walk across the bridge to continue with a Chinese company.