Chalong underpass

[LivinginKata]

I passed by about 10.00 yesterday on way to Phuket and there was a lot of work going  on opposite HomePro Village. Busier than I ever seen it in the past.

[LivinginKata]

I see news photo showing that circle cross traffic closed off until November .... not sure what year  ?

[Old Croc]

1 hour ago, LivinginKata said:

I see news photo showing that circle cross traffic closed off until November .... not sure what year  ?

There's a new thread in the News forum about closures.

[Badrabbit]

There's a new thread in the News forum about closures.

Nothing in Thailand news.

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[Badrabbit]

Found it!

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[RedCardinal]

Things going to plan. Traffic back to Sai Yuan.

[bearpolar]

whoever owns land around there, that could fit a dirt road straight through the traffic, should just open a private road with an entry fee of 300b

 

instantly rich

 

[pistachios]

What a clusterfork! I can confirm, I rode the bike past there today at 6pm and the road was jammed almost back to Sai Yuan. You'd think it should at least go smoothly in this direction with the circle closed off, but the blockage seemed to originate from Chao Fa West past Homepro were cops were creating mayhem for no reason.

 

I went back from P-Town on Chao Fa East at almost 9pm, at this time traffic is usually smooth everywhere. It was still completely jammed on south to north direction, almost up to the gasoline station. And it was pretty much gridlocked on the north to south direction, with traffic coming from P-Town or Chalong pier towards Kata having to make a U Turn on Viset where cars are already barely moving.

[madmitch]

Have they done anything to improve the road surface outside Homepro?

 

 

[Badrabbit]

Have they done anything to improve the road surface outside Homepro?
 
 

Yes it's been resurfaced

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[madmitch]

8 minutes ago, Badrabbit said:

Yes it's been resurfaced

Sent from my SM-G610F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Well, that's probably the only good thing. I still think one lane at that part of the road isn't enough, even with the underpass completed, but I hope I'm wrong.

 

This was always going to happen at some point. I'm already dreading the school run but I'm not back in Phuket for three weeks so with a bit of luck they might make some improvements by then and actually have more than three Burmese workers holding brooms on site!

[Old Croc]

Any recent feedback on how the latest closures are affecting traffic flow?

Are the U turns working or creating chaos? 

[LivinginKata]

I ventured out to Food for Farangs last Sunday about 15.00. I use the back road from Kata exits just before the Tesco/Makro. It was chaos. Now that side road has a barrier in front and need to 'ghost ride' on the new road surface outside the row of shop house and try to cross over on the outside of the turning traffic.

 

Naturally no one would allow a right turn. Took ages and I had to force my way out. Traffic back past Fisherman Way 2. And was on a SUNDAY ?

[Tapster]

We often go north up Viset road to Fisherman's Way (the original one) on a Sunday.

 

On Sundays there have been long tailbacks heading north, for many months now. I don't think Sundays are quiet at all.

 

On Sunday 29th, same day as LiK, we went north on Viset at approx 2pm, this time going all the way to the circle.

 

The tailback was no worse than the average Sunday, maybe a bit better. However, as we approached Makro and the area where people were doing U-turns, the traffic slowed significantly. We waited while two big tour buses did very slow U-turns to join the northbound lane. It was obvious that the traffic flow was much slower than before the circle's recent restrictions.

 

With a greater traffic volume, the tailback on Viset could easily go all the way back to the lights at Sai Yuan!

[stevenl]

Use it in the mornings coming from Kata or Rawai, and to my surprise so far perfectly ok.

On return U-turn from circle to Kata is also fast.

[stevenl]

6 hours ago, LivinginKata said:

I ventured out to Food for Farangs last Sunday about 15.00. I use the back road from Kata exits just before the Tesco/Makro. It was chaos. Now that side road has a barrier in front and need to 'ghost ride' on the new road surface outside the row of shop house and try to cross over on the outside of the turning traffic.

 

Naturally no one would allow a right turn. Took ages and I had to force my way out. Traffic back past Fisherman Way 2. And was on a SUNDAY ?

Yes, coming from Kata that road is not an option anymore, unless turning left, so to OrBorJor school.

[RedCardinal]

13 hours ago, stevenl said:

Yes, coming from Kata that road is not an option anymore, unless turning left, so to OrBorJor school.

In fairness, they had no choice but to close this option as the U-turn is only about 20m further south along the road.  Can you imagine what would happen if this turn and the U-turn were both still available?

 

20 hours ago, Tapster said:

With a greater traffic volume, the tailback on Viset could easily go all the way back to the lights at Sai Yuan!

On 26 July it did, in fact, do this. I heard someone sent a photo of same to the Governor, and the Chalong BIB were ordered to fix.

 

Overall, the handful of times I've gone through it's not been as bad as I expected. I think the new road surface helps a lot to speed up the flow. That said, I don't much care to think how things will be when we come into high-season.

[Tapster]

I went north up Viset at 09:35 this morning.

 

To my surprise there wasn't a queue until after the school bridge/walkway. Fortunately no coaches were doing a U-turn.

 

The single lane after that moved as fast as it has for the last few months.

 

I went up Chao Fa West and did the U-turn, to go to Chao Fa East. At busy times that U-turn would probably be bad as it's the same junction where many vehicles coming the other way turn right.

 

Altogether not too bad at 9.30 am.

 

?

[RedCardinal]

Also went through today, from Wiset to Chaofa W at 12PM, and back from Chaofa E to Wiset at 1.30PM. Right now I think it's no worse than it was before they closed the circle to cross traffic. No idea how it's flowing during rush hours though...

[Valentine]

Been both ways this morning from West (no cars waiting) & back from Viset (just a few cars lined up to get through).  Have seen that mini vans cannot make the U turn in one go at Soi Anuson & buses go a little further up to make a 6 point U turn when it has been widely stated they need to access Chao Fa East from Thanon Kwang or the road that cuts down alongside Wat Chalong.

 

Yesterday saw a bus coming out from the pier road took 2 goes to make the left turn.

[beechbum]

Just went through 20 mins ago, glad i was on a bike, very very long wait coming from Nai harn if your in a car, absolutely jam packed.

[Valentine]

13 hours ago, beechbum said:

Just went through 20 mins ago, glad i was on a bike, very very long wait coming from Nai harn if your in a car, absolutely jam packed.

Was there similar time yesterday but before leaving Nai Harn checked Maps which showed 56 minutes to get through so went via Kata instead which took about 15 to 20 minutes

[stevenl]

Coming from Chalong they now installed a lane divider at the U-turn. This means buses can not do the U-turn in one go anymore and have to back up. 

This made a process not too bad a lot worse today.

[beechbum]

Yep, got caught by that yesterday, 2 buses doing a u-turn, slow slow process!

[Old Croc]

On the bright side, there should be a few less buses around for a while.

[Wolf69]

Hi, I dont know who to contact but that nightmare at chalong underpass could be so easy relaxed - I dont know why the rerouted all locally known bypass routes back into traffic jam?! What an Idea- I made a small picture of a easy solution just move some concrete roadblocks and no extra costs. Appreciate if anybody can point that to some attention like Govenour or something ? 

So many people loosing time and money in that man-made disaster- somebody must be responsible for Tourist and Ambulance cars stocked in traffic jam - and local businesses around this area loosing all customers..... ? 

[stevenl]

In the mean time, airport underpass one lane, south to north, open.

[Valentine]

Actually saw quite a few workers today laying out steel ready for concrete. What is it with moving all the wet dirt around which seems to be a continuous process? I assume it is to dry it out before loading on trucks but is it being dug up from under the ground like that? if so tunneling conditions must be quite tough.

[sebastion]

Actually saw quite a few workers today laying out steel ready for concrete. What is it with moving all the wet dirt around which seems to be a continuous process? I assume it is to dry it out before loading on trucks but is it being dug up from under the ground like that? if so tunneling conditions must be quite tough.

They lay the roof for the tunnel on the earth and then dig it out.
That's how they get a concrete roof in quick time.

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[madmitch]

Traffic from Karon and Kata hasn't been too bad but I made the mistake of using Viset Road after a trip to Rawai Beach yesterday evening. Traffic almost at a standstill, seemingly caused mainly by u-turning buses. I'm glad I don't live in Rawai.