Phuket Governor Orders Local Authorities to Help Solve Traffic Problems

[webfact]

 

Phuket – The Phuket Governor has ordered local authorities to open some small roads in several areas to decrease traffic jams on main roads.

The Phuket Governor Sophon Suwannarat told the Thai press on Thursday (November 30th) that many road users have complaints about heavy traffic jams on many main roads in Phuket especially on the Thep Krassattri Road and on Patong Hill.

 

 

By Goongnang Suksawat

 

Full story: THE PHUKE EXPRESS 2023-12-02

 

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[ChipButty]

As we enter high season it's getting worse anytime coming from Rawai I dont know where the traffic comes from

[hotchilli]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

The Phuket Governor has ordered local authorities to open some small roads in several areas to decrease traffic jams on main roads.

Genius.

[hotchilli]

7 hours ago, ChipButty said:

As we enter high season it's getting worse anytime coming from Rawai I dont know where the traffic comes from

An over populated town with poor infrastructure?

[Sharp]

Cut tuk tuks by 70%

Minibus by 50%

 

The taxi apps are doing an OK job 

[Srikcir]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

The Phuket Governor has ordered local authorities to open some small roads in several areas to decrease traffic jams on main roads.

Why not do your job and consult with real traffic engineers for traffic solutions?

Key principles of traffic engineering: traffic planning, traffic analysis, traffic signal design and timing and roadway design. Underlining such engineering studies is real time traffic data. 

https://www.greenlighttrafficengineering.com

Expectations, hope and desire are not scientific elements.

[xeniv23]

I live near Palai Pier.  Crazy amount of construction going on down several of the sois.  At several points during each day you are just not going to be able to get through the light onto Chaofah Rd.  Just waiting to see when someone starts redeveloping the old zoo property.  There are some workarounds to get in and out of here but I see many vacant lots being cleared and vision walls going up.  At some point it will become untenable.  Too many envelopes leaping from hand to hand to ever do anything serious about balancing infrastructure and growth.  

Edited December 2, 2023 by xeniv23

[khunjeff]

Yes, "ordering" is always the best way to get career professionals to do their jobs - I'm sure it never occurred to them to try to improve traffic flow until his "order" came down.

[stoner]

6 hours ago, hotchilli said:

An over populated town with poor infrastructure?

 

i just moved to phuket a few weeks ago. traffic is bad (not as bad as bkk) and there is really no way to solve it. poor planning for decades mixed with brutal corruption.....welcome to phuket. 

 

ps.....rode over that part of the road on patong hill this afternoon that fell off the other day. they patched it up really nice. i could hardly even tell. 

Edited December 2, 2023 by stoner

[chub]

Anyone familiar with Bangkok in the 1990's, before the urban railways were built, will recognise the strategy of 'self-limiting congestion' (or 'do nothing') that Phuket is now experiencing. It's the inevitable result of decades of propulation and income growth with no increase in transport capacity. 

'Self-limiting' means that congestion was the main restraint on car use. When it might take several hours to drive a few kilometres only essential trips will be made. 

In Bangkok, the government made no serious attempt to manage the gridlock at ground level and instead embarked on a strategy of building elevated roads and railways above the chaos. For various reasons, building new infrastructure is much more attractive than trying to manage the chaos which would have required intensive traffic management and enforcement. and restraints on car use.     

Lacking capability and political will to manage traffic, and with severe constraints on building elevated highways, 'self-limiting congestion' in Phuket is now inevitable. The proposed new roads and LRT cannot provide significant relief while demand continues to escalate.  As traffic density increases more junctions lock up and the installation of simple fixed-cycle traffic lights without vehicle actuation increases delays in every case .  

The Governor clearly does not want to acknowledge these uncomfortable truths, and he resorts to token measures such as diverting main road traffic 'to small roads'.  The consequences of such a strategy are very negative, spreading danger, noise, pollution and congestion to sois and residential streets and creating more junction conflicts.