What Is The Worst Junction In Chiang Mai ?

[Ricardo]

My own vote would be for the intersections at Ricome & Canal-Road, with the Huay Kaew road, always seem to spend ages waiting there, to get through the traffic-lights.

[jackr]

Thapae Gate

[Cyberstar]

Thapae Gate

Exactly what I thought when seeing the title. Preferably an underpass that goes all the way to the other side of the Old City.

[Loaded]

How about an underpass under the new Khuangsing underpass. I waited for around 5 minutes to turn right in to Chotana Road heading towards MaeRim yesterday.

[meadish_sweetball]

My own vote would be for the intersections at Ricome & Canal-Road, with the Huay Kaew road, always seem to spend ages waiting there, to get through the traffic-lights.

Agree the Rincome intersection would be a good candidate but given the the space restrictions I can't see it happening - it would create an even worse havoc throughout the entire building phase, and as we've seen, it can take several years to complete an underpass...

[tigerbeer]

definitely rimcome! the most irritating wait at any traffic lights in chiang mai.

[chanchao]

Thapae Gate is ludicrous; it's also inner-city; the answer there is to channel development away from the Old Town, not try to make it even MORE accessible for vehicular traffic. Also there's just no space, and can you quite imagine a Bangkok style overpass there! The mind boggles..

Ok, so now seriously, space could be made at the Rincome Intersection by eating a bit into the Superhighway. Then it might just be feasible to fit an underpass in the direction of Huay Kaew in. But that would then only add to the congestion at the Huay Kaew & Canal road intersection.. But there there IS enough space to so an overpass in the Canal Road direction, so on top of the canal as it were.

But.. do we really want to see overpasses... The ones at Airport Plaza and Nong Hoy are already quite ugly enough I think.. So I think in the Huay Kaew area too the the answer is channeling development away.

Edited December 4, 2007 by chanchao

[p1p]

Roundabouts - Get rid of most of the @#$@#@# traffic lights on the highways and replace with roundabouts.

(Would help to teach the locals how to use them too, but this could be accomplished with a season of public service adverts.)

[PeaceBlondie]

I know Rincome intersection quite well, and I think underpasses require many meters of width on both sides, which just aren't available on the eastern sides. They require over a hundred meters of approach, which isn't available on the Neimanhyman side. You'd lose the La Gritta restaurant, and probably most of the Amari Hotel.

Rincome is ripe for a roundabout, though, especially if the center of the roundabout is west of the current Superhighway and Neimanhyman routes.

Except for Bike Week last year, it's never taken me over four minutes to get through Rincome. But I'm on a motorcycle.....

[mcgriffith]

Had to laugh reading PB's post. The intersection of Huay Kaew road with NimbleHymen/SuperHighway is somewhat problematic.

In a car!

You frustrated folks in your Megalosaurus SUV/trucks just need to buy a motorsai...I buzz through this intersection 3 or 4 times a day, passing legions of parked frustrated motorists in big vehicles, going no where, windows rolled up, air con on, engines chuffing out tons of microparticulate diesel pollution.

This city is not cool for cars. Get a bike and save the environment....

[el jefe]

Had to laugh reading PB's post. The intersection of Huay Kaew road with NimbleHymen/SuperHighway is somewhat problematic.

In a car!

You frustrated folks in your Megalosaurus SUV/trucks just need to buy a motorsai...I buzz through this intersection 3 or 4 times a day, passing legions of parked frustrated motorists in big vehicles, going no where, windows rolled up, air con on, engines chuffing out tons of microparticulate diesel pollution.

This city is not cool for cars. Get a bike and save the environment....

if you really want to save the environment, yes, get a "bike". A BICYCLE.

[mcgriffith]

Had to laugh reading PB's post. The intersection of Huay Kaew road with NimbleHymen/SuperHighway is somewhat problematic.

In a car!

You frustrated folks in your Megalosaurus SUV/trucks just need to buy a motorsai...I buzz through this intersection 3 or 4 times a day, passing legions of parked frustrated motorists in big vehicles, going no where, windows rolled up, air con on, engines chuffing out tons of microparticulate diesel pollution.

This city is not cool for cars. Get a bike and save the environment....

if you really want to save the environment, yes, get a "bike". A BICYCLE.

I won't disagree with you, Mr. Lance Armstrong

[chanchao]

Had to laugh reading PB's post. The intersection of Huay Kaew road with NimbleHymen/SuperHighway is somewhat problematic.

In a car!

You frustrated folks in your Megalosaurus SUV/trucks just need to buy a motorsai...I buzz through this intersection 3 or 4 times a day, passing legions of parked frustrated motorists in big vehicles, going no where, windows rolled up, air con on, engines chuffing out tons of microparticulate diesel pollution.

This city is not cool for cars. Get a bike and save the environment....

Sooner or later those bikes end up squashed under those Megalosaurs trucks though.. Bikes are cool when you're 18 (or 50-something in a midlife crisis) and single, but consider a lot of people also need to drive their kids & loved ones around. And then sometimes it rains... Or it's the hot season.. etc.

Anyway there's enough opportunity to avoid that stretch of Huay Kaew; also when coming back from Doi Suthep on weekends I mostly cut through the University area, because the traffic light timing on the Canal Road intersection is severely retarded and has been for years.

[ProThaiExpat]

When only ten cars are allowed through during rush hour on a major exit road from downtown CM such as Superhighway and Mae Rim Road/Chotwana, it is attention to signal timing that can be improved.

When there is dedicated right and left turn signal phases that equals through traffic signal length, the tail is wagging the dog.

[Crow Boy]

My vote for intersection would be where the Super Highway crosses Huai Kaeo and becomes Nimmanhamin Road. The advantage of this for the CM city council is that using the standard of development it will cause major disruption for at least 3 years and after all the bridges, over passes and under passes have been complete still take as long or even better longer to cross. Think of the disruption they can cause with such a simple exercise and the potential for payouts on land and contracts on offer. By suggesting that they make the project run 7 days a week and 24 hours a day the kickbacks from the Amari Rincome hotel will cover almost the entire project cost when they "suggest" the project run 8-7pm and Mon- Friday. This will of course push back completion date on the project keeping semi skilled labour at sub minimum wages in work for even longer. The major advantage of course will be the ongoing suffering to the the motorist who will be left in the fumes and dust from constuction and they view the "artist rendition of the new intersection". The slow down in traffic will also offer increased opportunity for flower sellers, lottery ticket touts, plus vendors of gai yaan and som tam who can prepare a full snack between you moving forward three car lengths.

CB

[cloudhopper]

The traffic signals at any CM intersection appear to be merely advisory. As a pedestrian, the "crosswalk" at the Art Cafe intersection across the top end of Thapae Road has nearly killed me on numerous occasions.

[PeaceBlondie]

The only pedestrian crosswalks worth a satang are the ones that literally stop vehicular traffic with a red light, like the numerous ones on Suthep Road and several around the moat. Even then, those lights are often disregarded, especially if no one is in the crosswalk.

Yesterday evening, I must have gone 40 km in a short time, past places like Huay Kaew Road, Canal Road, Night Bazaar, Tha Pae Gate, most of the moat, etc. I only had to stop two times on Suthep Road, and once on Canal Road. Traffic keeps flowing, at least if you're on a bike.

[JoshMyPickle]

The worst/most dangerous intersections BY FAR are the cross-streets between Nimmanhaemin and Srimunkalajarn--it's so bad there that I refer to them as the intersections of death. The soi (#9) where Monkey Club and Starbucks lie is the worst one of all.

Edited December 5, 2007 by JoshMyPickle

[chanchao]

I almost killed a motorcycle rider there today.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

Maybe no road works at all would help traffic in Changers.

[BlissfullyIgnorant]

Roundabouts - Get rid of most of the @#$@#@# traffic lights on the highways and replace with roundabouts.

+1

[Flatouthruthefog]

The worst/most dangerous intersections BY FAR are the cross-streets between Nimmanhaemin and Srimunkalajarn--it's so bad there that I refer to them as the intersections of death. The soi (#9) where Monkey Club and Starbucks lie is the worst one of all.

Well said Josh!

I was hoping that eventually someone would come to the DANGEROUS aspect of junctions as opposed to the merely inconvenient.

In terms of danger, illogicality, criminally insane design and moronic cost saving, little in Thailand or SE Asia could surely come close to the challenge we are given as we attempt to join the Stupidhighway (west-bound) from the top of the north bound riverside road past Rimping Condo/Buonissimo/Tourist Police!

First we turn right at the T junction with the high speed concrete in front of us. Then we face 2 lanes of high speed oncoming traffic (off the access road) as we attempt a left hand hairpin to try to join 3 lanes of high speed oncoming traffic already on the Stupidhighway!!

This farce has cost so many lives already it is no longer a joke. It is FAR worse at night. No thinking driver can take Thai roads/traffic/law seriously until this pathetic sham of a junction is sorted out.

So beware. It won't be sorted in my lifetime. This or the next.

Life is cheap in Asia and this excuse for road engineering is the proof. Be wise, you guys!

[chanchao]

Yes, excellent point. Note that it's not only an issue at the spot you mention but on all 4 sides of that bridge; the shoulder of the Superhighway suddenly turns into a two-way road, with some traffic coming back the 'wrong' way, then having to make a U-turn. (And keep in mind that especially pick up trucks don't turn on a dime..)

Actually its the same for many other bridges as well.. Including the one on the Middle Ring.

Another place that qualifies for some work is the U-turn / intersection near Wat Jed Yod.. First of all the type/style of the traffic lights there is for some weird reason different from anywhere else, plus it's just a nasty spot where a lot of sois come together, as well as being a U-turn.

Edited December 9, 2007 by chanchao

[PeaceBlondie]

I'm trying to get around more, to become familiar with Chiang Mai roads that aren't on my usual rounds. That means they'll be most dangerous for me, as I instantly have to decipher the right way to maneuver through the intersection. Also, danger intensifies at night. I had a convenient way to take a shortcut to my moobahn, during the day. At night, I suddenly discovered a temporary parking lot on the high speed canal road, for a popular dinner spot, with a traffic jam on a twisting road!