Mae Fa Luang Bridge / Nw Of Town

[brahmburgers]

It looks like land reclamation. Many truckloads of white rock, two steam shovels, and about forty grunt workers.

Alternative guesses are: they're stretching the road from the Chiang Rai side, narrowing the river route, and possibly building another smaller span bridge?

They sometimes do things like that to reap a bunch of sand for the sand business, but it looks far to fancy for just a berm to gather sand.

Also, while standing on the bridge looking over the side, I felt slight shakes each time a vehicle went by. Not motorcycles (too light) but even little cars caused a slight shaking. Laden trucks of course, gave a lot more noticable effect. Maybe the 'powers that be' have decided that the bridge is not as structurally sound as it should be - particularly for heavy vehicles. However, that would be quite an un-Thai way of thinking (to pre-empt a structural deficiency before disaster strikes).

I was a Califronia general contractor (but not an engineer) and would suggest the following for the bridge:

Place new concrete piers - staggered between the existing ones. I believe that bridge was built around the late 1980's. I remember exploring on motorbike, the area NW of C.Rai - before there was a bridge there - must of been early 1980's.

Oh well, I hope we don't have a bridge collapse.

[wileycoyote]

Is this the main bridge from Mae Chan to Chiang Rai ?

Wiley Coyote

[buddhafly]

i think he's referring to the bridge past the dusit thani....

[goski]

Yes, and also maybe not so Thai-style after all

http://www.mapreport.com/subtopics/d/t.html

[brahmburgers]

The bridge referred to is the 2 lane one over the Mae Kok river - going to Ban Nam Lat - NW of Chiang Rai

still, does anyone know the purpose of all the rocks and activity going on there?

[chang35baht]

Generally they use the rocks, held in place with wire mesh, to shore up the banks. stopping the river currents from washing away the sand/soil from the banks.

There is another bridge to be built, but I think it is to be a little further downstream.

Recently they also drilled a series of hole along the length of the bridge, on the downstream side, I think to enable them to install a new pipe to carry water across the bridge in conjunction with the upgrading of the town water system( nam papa). A bit ironic really for a bridge that spans water.

Oh yes, regarding the structural soundness of the bridge. It is definitely unsafe for any farangs to cross this bridge on foot or in any type of vehicle. You must stay in town.

Regards,

Chang35baht(Bahn Namlat).

Edited January 27, 2008 by chang35baht

[Joel Barlow]

"Generally they use the rocks, held in place with wire mesh, to shore up the banks. stopping the river currents from washing away the sand/soil from the banks." and "Recently they also drilled a series of hole along the length of the bridge, on the downstream side, I think to enable them to install a new pipe to carry water across the bridge in conjunction with the upgrading of the town water system( nam papa). A bit ironic really for a bridge that spans water." - all a little obvious, I would think. But I thought it was "nam Prapah"

"There is another bridge to be built, but I think it is to be a little further downstream." - yes, going through Akha River House, I understand! which should solve all local traffic problems

[chang35baht]

"Generally they use the rocks, held in place with wire mesh, to shore up the banks. stopping the river currents from washing away the sand/soil from the banks." and "Recently they also drilled a series of hole along the length of the bridge, on the downstream side, I think to enable them to install a new pipe to carry water across the bridge in conjunction with the upgrading of the town water system( nam papa). A bit ironic really for a bridge that spans water." - all a little obvious, I would think. But I thought it was "nam Prapah"

"There is another bridge to be built, but I think it is to be a little further downstream." - yes, going through Akha River House, I understand! which should solve all local traffic problems

Perhaps all to obvious to some Joel, but not to the OP.

As for the water Joel, I did spell it wrong I should have used The letter B as the initial letter. But local pronunciation sounds virtually like a P. There is no R(ror) in this word. .

Hope your not getting too many sleepless nights.

All the best,

Chang35baht.

Edited January 27, 2008 by chang35baht

[goski]

To settle this you might google "น้ำปะปา" if thai script works on this page regarding Thailand. So yes, no R in the word of course.

[chang35baht]

Nothing to settle Goski. Thanks anyway. Regarding the bridge, they are forming the stones around the base of each of the bridge supports. I can only assume that it is to stop erosion from the currents. All the movement of soil/sand is to enable the work to be carried out.

C35b.

[brahmburgers]

Generally they use the rocks, held in place with wire mesh, to shore up the banks. stopping the river currents from washing away the sand/soil from the banks.

There is another bridge to be built, but I think it is to be a little further downstream.

Regards, Chang35baht(Bahn Namlat).

yes, rocks and wire mesh are usually used to shore up banks. However, the rocks and mesh job is currently going perpendicular to the shore. Perhaps it's to shore up the existing footings for the MFL bridge support columns. Could be they've been pushed a bit downstream, or undermined in their 20+ year lifetime. Still, we don't have a response from someone who knows what the real plan is.

I've heard there are at least 2 new bridges planned for Mae Kok near Chiang Rai. The first will service a road that will go out from the main police station is - due north. That road will meet the main super hwy about half way between C.Rai and BanDu, a bit south of Makro. The road widening has been started.

The other two are 'ring roads' designed to relieve traffic (mostly trucks) from downtown. I have a subjective hope that the first of those will be on the east side of town. It makes the most sense - as the bridge there has just been widened to four lanes, and part of the hwy is already built. Part of that route would go directly by the new airport.

A ring road around the west side of town should not be built for several reasons. One is it bisects my two parcels of land. If I were Thai, I would probably love to have a super hwy by my rural parcels, but I'll never be Thai, and much prefer tranquility and seclusion. One of the the other reasons a western ring road is a bad idea is there's no existing bridge (as there is for an eastern ring road). Plus, does Chiang Rai really need a hwy that connects the new prison with MFL university?

A few years ago I saw a govenment map of projections for Chiang Rai. On it were subway system and a light rail system, and at least a half dozen bridges across the Mae Kok. I hope to be long gone before Chiang Rai becomes a mini-Bangkok.

[toybits]

I have been on other bridges that vibrated or swayed when heavy vehicles drove by. I was informed that this was normal as it prevents cracking of the concrete spans.

You just had a bridge collapse in the USA - right? Wasn't that case cause partially by a barge colliding with one of the bridge piers?

I'm sure the long tail boats would not cause similar damage to this bridge you are referring to (somewhere near the boat terminal at Ban Namlat.

Also, while standing on the bridge looking over the side, I felt slight shakes each time a vehicle went by. Not motorcycles (too light) but even little cars caused a slight shaking. Laden trucks of course, gave a lot more noticable effect. Maybe the 'powers that be' have decided that the bridge is not as structurally sound as it should be - particularly for heavy vehicles. However, that would be quite an un-Thai way of thinking (to pre-empt a structural deficiency before disaster strikes).

I was a Califronia general contractor (but not an engineer) and would suggest the following for the bridge:

Place new concrete piers - staggered between the existing ones. I believe that bridge was built around the late 1980's. I remember exploring on motorbike, the area NW of C.Rai - before there was a bridge there - must of been early 1980's.

Oh well, I hope we don't have a bridge collapse.

[brahmburgers]

As the construction progresses, it's clear that at least part of the project is to shore-up the footings of the bridge piers.

Due to years of erosion, the lower parts were showing , so it's a good plan to shore it up. However, it appears there's more to the construction project. Anyone who can shed light on what's up, let us know.

[chang35baht]

The lower parts are showing merely because the water is low at this time of year.

The main focus of the project as a whole, I think, is to increase the water handling capabilities at the water plant. Hence the new holding tanks and other builds going on in there.

[brahmburgers]

interesting point about possibly upping the water level for the water plant a bit upstream, though then the new construction would be a sort of dam or berm, and (on 2nd thought) I doubt that's one intention of the activity there.

The base of the columns showing is obviously due to low levels of the river this time of year. However, the lower footings (below the main footings), which are round columns at odd angles below the main footing - are showing. I strongly suspect that those lower footing were below grade (out of sight) when first drilled and constructed. Whereas, now they're showing - and that's understandable, with the incredible force of the river flowing through there year after year. So, the project looks mainly intended to reinforce the whole footing assembly which, in my opinion, is a smart thing to do.

Anyone with added insight, please chime in.

[chownah]

If I understand the description correctly the columns at odd angles are called piles and the big hunk of cement they support is called the pile cap. If they are putting wire baskets filled with rock (called gabions) around the piles and doing nothing else then it is probably not to support the piles or pile cap but rather to just check further erosion. I don't know what style of bridge this is or how big it is but a bridge having in stream pilings would usually be on a scale that gabions would not be stiff enough to give appreciable support to a bridge pier....the gabions could be placed first and then concrete placed second with the gabions acting like forms and this could provide some support...don't know.

Chownah

[AjarnP]

To settle this you might google "น้ำปะปา" if thai script works on this page regarding Thailand. So yes, no R in the word of course.

Sorry, Goski,

That's a common spelling error even for Thai folks. The correct spelling is น้ำประปา with the 'r' ร

cheers

AjarnP

[chang35baht]

I also stand corrected. BLOODY WIFE!!!