Pending Changes To The "local" Roads (next To Railtracks)

[LennyW]

The teething troubles with light times seem to have been worked out, the road is actually quite useable now, long may it be so!

I still see quite a few impatient youngsters on motorcycles that can't seem to distinguish between red and green though!

[mickba]

The teething troubles with light times seem to have been worked out, the road is actually quite useable now, long may it be so!

I still see quite a few impatient youngsters on motorcycles that can't seem to distinguish between red and green though!

I can't agree. It's very frustrating sitting looking at red lights seemingly in all directions.

No doubt there's a reason why the traffic is now only allowed to go one way at a time over the railway track after years of twoway?

BTW, I'm 60 so that couldn't have been me you saw

Edited June 17, 2009 by mickba

[anothertorres]

i'd like to rescind my previous thought. traffic was backed well past 7/11 on SCCC tonight at 7pm. coming back from Central Festival at 9pm (yes, it's still standing) and sitting at that red light with NO cars coming down the bypass roads was very annoying.

can't we just use these lights from 4pm-6pm?

[LennyW]

The teething troubles with light times seem to have been worked out, the road is actually quite useable now, long may it be so!

I still see quite a few impatient youngsters on motorcycles that can't seem to distinguish between red and green though!

I can't agree. It's very frustrating sitting looking at red lights seemingly in all directions.

No doubt there's a reason why the traffic is now only allowed to go one way at a time over the railway track after years of twoway?

BTW, I'm 60 so that couldn't have been me you saw

No, definately not you mickba!! , that must be a bummer for you now where your house is located, do you go to the Huay Yai end and do a U turn or do you go back round by Khaomakok1 and down Chaiyapruek 2,??

It was rumoured that the area where that exercise park and "burst" lake is was due to have a bridge to link to Sukhumvit but no sign of that yet?, but that was rumoured many moons ago, even before the construction of this new road!

[MeetJohnDoe]

I can't agree with those who have praised the lights...yesterday and 6 pm the traffic on NPW was almost backed-up to the Esso station! Took me 20 minutes to get through the intersection where as before never much more than 5 mins. Coming back at 2 am was a breeze however.

[Phil Conners]

What annoys me most about Thai traffic lights is they only have green light for one direction at the time. Where I come from normally the two opposite directions have green light at the same time. Of course that means those who do right turns need to wait for oncoming traffic, perhaps that's too difficult for the locals here ....

[LennyW]

What annoys me most about Thai traffic lights is they only have green light for one direction at the time. Where I come from normally the two opposite directions have green light at the same time. Of course that means those who do right turns need to wait for oncoming traffic, perhaps that's too difficult for the locals here ....

I think it is so that no one will ever be waiting on the railtracks, or that would be the theory anyway?

[Phil Conners]

^ No, they do it in all traffic lights here.

[Mobi]

I can't agree with those who have praised the lights...yesterday and 6 pm the traffic on NPW was almost backed-up to the Esso station! Took me 20 minutes to get through the intersection where as before never much more than 5 mins. Coming back at 2 am was a breeze however.

I think we have to give it a week or two to see what is really happening with traffic flows.

I am sure that after the chaos of the first day that many people used alternative routes which would explain why it was better on subsequent days.

But it's a "Catch 22" situation.

When word spreads that the traffic is flowing better, more people will start to use it again, and then it will back up again, and the they will go elsewhere again.... and so on and so on....

Let's see

[MeetJohnDoe]

I think it's true thaat most of the traffic-flow is on the Farside feeder roads into Pattaya and crossing over the new relief roads. It would seem to me that therefore, the best solution iwould be for there to be flashing yellow lights (slow-down...use caution) in that direction and flashing reds (stop and look) on the relief roads. That would be similar to the "natural" traffic flow before the lights were operational and it seemed to work just fine. If necessary, have traffic guards there to oversee things during the morning and evening rush hours.

Edited June 18, 2009 by MeetJohnDoe

[Mobi]

I think they may have re- phased the lights, or people are still using other routes because I had no problem going West over the junction at 6.30 tonight on SCCC.

I was the first car at the red, and I noticed that there was an idiot in a pick-up going the wrong way (North) on the southbound local road. He was waiting at the junction for the lights to change, and of course they would never turn green for him - in fact he wouldn't be able to see any lights from where he was waiting.

Then a few motorcyclists appeared, also going the wrong way, and quickly filtered into the west/east traffic.

I wondered where all the cops were - the pick-up just stayed there apparently transfixed - like a rabbit in the traffic lights.

Then another pick-up came up behind the first one.

Hello, hello, this is going to be fun.

The arrival of the vehicle behind him, finally prompted prompted the first one to move, and he started to ease out into the moving traffic causing all kinds of near misses.

Then - out of the blue, Pattaya's answer to the Keystone cops suddenly appeared, as if by magic - about six of them. They quickly surrounded the two vehicles and started shouting at the drivers and gesticulating wildly.

I had to move on the green, so I didn't see the conclusion to the encounter.

I wonder how much the stupid muts paid?

He actually had loads of time to realise he was going the wrong way, and as there was no traffic around he could have done a U-turn and been gone long before the Keystones turned up.

Fun and games.

[anothertorres]

did you just say "gesticulating"?

[Mobi]

did you just say "gesticulating"?

What's wrong with gesticulating?

gesticulating:

making gestures while speaking; "her gesticulating hands and arms made words almost unnecessary"

Sounds about right

[tattoodrob]

Ive also seen few turn and go the wrong way up the road....this could happen for days, weeks or even months to come as people have been using it for months as a 2 way road so i believs its gonna be a dangerous road for months to come.

Also i dont see how this is going to ease the traffic off of sukhumvit rd as if i coming from bangkok to rayong then id still much rather go through Pattayas sukhumvit rd than this so called bypass which has more junctions/traffic lights than sukhumvit has so why the hel_l would anyone use it?

[anothertorres]

did you just say "gesticulating"?

What's wrong with gesticulating?

gesticulating:

making gestures while speaking; "her gesticulating hands and arms made words almost unnecessary"

Sounds about right

[mickba]

The teething troubles with light times seem to have been worked out, the road is actually quite useable now, long may it be so!

I still see quite a few impatient youngsters on motorcycles that can't seem to distinguish between red and green though!

I can't agree. It's very frustrating sitting looking at red lights seemingly in all directions.

No doubt there's a reason why the traffic is now only allowed to go one way at a time over the railway track after years of twoway?

BTW, I'm 60 so that couldn't have been me you saw

No, definately not you mickba!! , that must be a bummer for you now where your house is located, do you go to the Huay Yai end and do a U turn or do you go back round by Khaomakok1 and down Chaiyapruek 2,??

It was rumoured that the area where that exercise park and "burst" lake is was due to have a bridge to link to Sukhumvit but no sign of that yet?, but that was rumoured many moons ago, even before the construction of this new road!

A bummer indeed! I hoped for a while that the crossing just down from me (opposite that water park/construction) would stay open but no such luck.

In a car we have to go down to Huay Yai and then Sukhumvit beckons. I haven't tried going right round and back to Chaiyapruek2.

On the m/bike I'm sorry but I do it the Thai way i.e. I go the wrong way in the "bike" lane for about 500 metres until I can (carefully) get across to the correct side. I'm not sure if there's a camera where I do that but it's a bit of a free-for-all there as it often seems ridiculous sitting at a red light looking at the empty road in front so bikes and cars are routinely going through it. If I went down to Huay Yai it would be Sukhumvit again.

.........and no, I haven't yet worked out how you know exactly where I live - previous post or what? I don't recall being that specific since the bandits almost took me out.

[Mobi]

Ive also seen few turn and go the wrong way up the road....this could happen for days, weeks or even months to come as people have been using it for months as a 2 way road so i believs its gonna be a dangerous road for months to come.

Also i dont see how this is going to ease the traffic off of sukhumvit rd as if i coming from bangkok to rayong then id still much rather go through Pattayas sukhumvit rd than this so called bypass which has more junctions/traffic lights than sukhumvit has so why the hel_l would anyone use it?

Well before the two way system came in I used the local roads on more or less a daily basis and found them very good, as even now there is relatively little traffic on them. I frequently drove from the northern start of the local road all the way down to Chaiypruk 2 (southern end of Jomtien), and found it a very quick journey, as I was barely held up at the major crossroads, with no lights to wait for.

But now, I don't know. I suspect you are right. If they haven't done already, they will eventually phase the lights in favour of east/west/east traffic which means you could be help up for long periods on the local road.

But at the end of the day, it is a 'Local' road, presumably for local traffic, and not intended as a 'rat run' from Pattaya to Sattahip - or maybe it is? Who knows - if anyone?

My best hope is that there is such chaos that they turn off the lights and we will be back where we were - a free for all, and a lot of fun

[PTYstefan]

with out the traffice lights there would be some more traffic accidents. but on the otherside it is faster if there are no trafic lights. also the one way regulation seems to be childish to me., there is one side which is wide and the other one is more narrow. i do not understand who thought of this idea.

it must have cost them a lot of money to install all the light. rather to take the money and fix up all the holes though out pattaya.

i think they realy have to much money to waste on some thing silly.

[MeetJohnDoe]

My best hope is that there is such chaos that they turn off the lights and we will be back where we were - a free for all, and a lot of fun

[Mobi]

Being a glutton for punishment I drove down the local road today - starting in the North and going South all they way to the Theprasit Junction.

I have made this journey many times, and for me it was much quicker than going down Sukhumvit. I used to sail through most of the minor junctions, and even the major ones like SCCC , NPW and Soi Khao Noi didn't take longer than a few seconds to cross.

I didn't count them, but today I had to stop at around 8 -10 junctions, all on red lights and wait for at least 3 minutes for the lights to change.

You got it, it added nearly half an hour to my journey.

And every junction, except the major 3, was notable for the absence of vehicles crossing in any direction when the lights were red.

They have put up a standard traffic light configuration for a major crossroads - the same you see all across the country. Generally speaking only one set of vehicles can go at a time due to all the left and right turning traffic.

Maybe they need to ban left turning and/or right turning from the local road at certain junctions, and adjust the lights accordingly.

But MJD's solution is the best. Put them on flashing, except for the morning and evening rush hours.

Well I will now use Sukhumvit instead of the local roads to go across Pattaya, as it will be quicker than the so-called Bi-pass.

It was fun while it lasted

Edited June 19, 2009 by Mobi

[anothertorres]

i just drove home from Sukh to SCCC, 1:30am and i went through the redlights. please don't tell anyone...

[cigarchuck]

i just drove home from Sukh to SCCC, 1:30am and i went through the redlights. please don't tell anyone...

anothertorres,thank you for all the helpful post regarding the new road. With the number of traffic police and traffic camera's in the US you would not run a red light. Also, too many traffic citations would result is a serious problem with auto insurance. However, here with so few traffic police it is safe to run a red light at times and the thai's so it all the time without and regard for safety.

cigarchuck,the idiot

[LennyW]

Rumour has it that this is currently a grace period, but as of July 1 the BIB are going to be out in force and will issue no more warnings about one way, lights etc. On the spot fines!!

[gmac]

Being a glutton for punishment I drove down the local road today - starting in the North and going South all they way to the Theprasit Junction.

I have made this journey many times, and for me it was much quicker than going down Sukhumvit. I used to sail through most of the minor junctions, and even the major ones like SCCC , NPW and Soi Khao Noi didn't take longer than a few seconds to cross.

I didn't count them, but today I had to stop at around 8 -10 junctions, all on red lights and wait for at least 3 minutes for the lights to change.

You got it, it added nearly half an hour to my journey.

And every junction, except the major 3, was notable for the absence of vehicles crossing in any direction when the lights were red.

They have put up a standard traffic light configuration for a major crossroads - the same you see all across the country. Generally speaking only one set of vehicles can go at a time due to all the left and right turning traffic.

Maybe they need to ban left turning and/or right turning from the local road at certain junctions, and adjust the lights accordingly.

But MJD's solution is the best. Put them on flashing, except for the morning and evening rush hours.

Well I will now use Sukhumvit instead of the local roads to go across Pattaya, as it will be quicker than the so-called Bi-pass.

It was fun while it lasted

That pretty much sums it up doesn't it? These roads were constructed to reduce volume of traffic on Sukhumvit but now, due to the usual Thai incompetence, you are going to use the Sukhumvit instead of the back roads!!! TIT

[mickba]

Rumour has it that this is currently a grace period, but as of July 1 the BIB are going to be out in force and will issue no more warnings about one way, lights etc. On the spot fines!!

If that proves to be true (and they look at the cameras too) then it's definitelyback to Sukhumvit for me. I went through at 5am today and ran 7 red lights. It was fairly quiet, but having said that, there were people running across my green lights too. In effect, you have to treat each one as flashing amber and hope they switch them all to that and let people get on.

BTW - how many taximeters have you seen using it? IME they won't go near it c/f Sukhumvit. Does that tell you something?

Edited June 20, 2009 by mickba

[MeetJohnDoe]

That pretty much sums it up doesn't it? These roads were constructed to reduce volume of traffic on Sukhumvit but now, due to the usual Thai incompetence, you are going to use the Sukhumvit instead of the back roads!

Also, another problem I have started to notice (on NPW and Kao Talo) at peak traffic times is that the east-bound traffic during their stop at the red light at near-side of the bridge intersection is starting to back-up almost to Sukhumvit. I can easily imagine the stopped "waiting line" backing out onto Sukkie itself and causing a little bit of traffic chaos.

In addition, have you too all noticed that when driving west-bound at the bridge intersections, you have a signal indicator light at the first parallel RR road but at the other side of the bride, at the 2nd road, there is no light to indicate if you still have the right of way. My supposition is that they are treating both sides of the bridge as one intersection so the light change on the far side (west) is coordinated with near (east) side of the bridge roads.

Edited June 21, 2009 by MeetJohnDoe

[Mobi]

In addition, have you too all noticed that when driving west-bound at the bridge intersections, you have a signal indicator light at the first parallel RR road but at the other side of the bride, at the 2nd road, there is no light to indicate if you still have the right of way. My supposition is that they are treating both sides of the bridge as one intersection so the light change on the far side (west) is coordinated with near (east) side of the bridge roads.

That's precisely what they have done. Four phase lights.

As I posted earlier it is a typical lights set up at a major 4 lane highway crossroads, where each line of traffic goes, one by one. No account is made for the long distance between the 2 local roads.

Also. on most major highways where the traffic flow is predominantly on the 4 lane road, they have a fifth phase where the major traffic flow on the 4 lane road goes on green. If they decide that the major traffic flow is the local roads, and introduce a fifth phase, then God help us.

[anothertorres]

In addition, have you too all noticed that when driving west-bound at the bridge intersections, you have a signal indicator light at the first parallel RR road but at the other side of the bride, at the 2nd road, there is no light to indicate if you still have the right of way. My supposition is that they are treating both sides of the bridge as one intersection so the light change on the far side (west) is coordinated with near (east) side of the bridge roads.

oh absolutely. i've witnessed this on 2 occasions where it's been backed up so far that the traffic getting through was standing in the middle of both track roads. today i witnessed a back up with the cars moving slowly. just slow enough for all the bikes to start moving on *their* green light which caused the east-west traffic to come to a stop, thus exasperating the entire intersection. [and now i hope that made sense myself].

[MeetJohnDoe]

Well it was a complete cluster-<deleted> today at 5:30 in the evening...traffic heading west on NPW was backed-up to the Esso gas station (that's about 1 kilometer folks). I don't know how long it would have taken to get to Sukkie as I was lucky in that I was going to Cafe Uno so turned in at soi Dao Cafe. By the time I returned at 7 pm, things were more back to normal as the back-up was no longer up to that point at least but don't know where it was exactly as I made a right to go east on NPW to go back home.

[Mobi]

Went down SCCC at around 4.30 P.m. yesterday.

The Westbound traffic back up wasn't too bad, although I did jump the queue by driving down the outside lane and then cutting in

However the eastbound traffic was backed up almost to Sukhumvit.