I noticed surveyors out at the Darasamuth Intersection the other day and the reality of how bad the traffic is going to be when they reduce this artery to just one lane north and one lane south.

Personally I don't see how this is going to improve the traffic much in the long term as the real bottleneck is further south, where Chao Fa West reduces to two lanes...

I am just wondering how people whose daily commutes involve travel in that area are preparing for this nightmare scenario; what steps they are taking to avoid the inevitable mayhem and what, if any, creative solutions might be out there.

I wondered that myself today as I passed through there a couple times. It will be bad. I expect the usual hour to or from the airport to be over 3 for the next several months. The coast road will be packed as well. I noticed the Jersey barriers ( concrete dividers) stacked up on the island opposite central today so it looks like work is about to begin, in their infinite wisdom, just as high season is starting. The traffic was unbelievable today. A little slice of Bangkok right here in Phuket.

I also agree that there would need to be widening of surrounding roads for it to make any noticable difference. Or they could just get a reasonable transport system and problem solved. Both red curbs south of Central are chock a block with those legal/illegal taxi's all day.Must be 30-40 taxi's queued up each side of the road waiting for their "Special Price for Phuket Farang" 500B fare for a distance that would be 120B in a Bangkok metered taxi, or 30 baht in a Pattaya, Krabi etc. songteaw. What a mess.

I wondered that myself today as I passed through there a couple times. It will be bad. I expect the usual hour to or from the airport to be over 3 for the next several months. The coast road will be packed as well. I noticed the Jersey barriers ( concrete dividers) stacked up on the island opposite central today so it looks like work is about to begin, in their infinite wisdom, just as high season is starting. The traffic was unbelievable today. A little slice of Bangkok right here in Phuket.

I also agree that there would need to be widening of surrounding roads for it to make any noticable difference. Or they could just get a reasonable transport system and problem solved. Both red curbs south of Central are chock a block with those legal/illegal taxi's all day.Must be 30-40 taxi's queued up each side of the road waiting for their "Special Price for Phuket Farang" 500B fare for a distance that would be 120B in a Bangkok metered taxi, or 30 baht in a Pattaya, Krabi etc. songteaw. What a mess.

With some foresight they might consider some sort of park-and-ride service for people who just want access to the shopping complexes in the area..then again the tuk-tuk mafia would never stand for such a thing

Not sure why they are starting right at the beginning of high season.

The traffic is shocking in that area everyday even in the low season due to those schools.

Gridlocked is the magic word.

High season mean no rain and no water to fill up the hole while they are constructing. I just wonder if there is weather restrictions to do the hole during the rain season?

It would be nice if they could make an temporary road behind of BigC to the west side of the Lotus intersection. That would allow bypass the bypass..

Anyway I suppose this road is going to be used.

http://www.phuketgazette.net/articles/2012/Fears-of-Phuket-underpass-traffic-jams-prompt-alternative-routes-plan-17958.html

i dread going anywhere near town by car, on my bike no problem at all. last night, about 6pm, coming south past the tesco lights took 20 minutes. on my bike i could have done it in 2 mins.

Rereading that article in the link above from the Gazette, a spokesman said traffic would only be 20 or 30% more congested. Does he really believe that even with people taking alternative routes?

In regards to NomadJoe's comment about legal/illegal taxis parking everywhere, they've got a solution..............

>>>"We have issued orders for this to stop, but it still happens sometimes. Where they are park along the road is illegal, so if you anyone sees a parked car there, please inform us by calling 076-220919 between 6:30am and 10pm.

If we find cars parked there we will issue tickets and the offenders will have to pay a 300-baht fine."

The only thing I see that will be a benefit from this will be east/west traffic from Patong to Phuket Town. North/South traffic will not flow any faster.

The road behind Big C is really narrow. It can barely handle the traffic it has now. Increasing the traffic on such a small road by ???% will only make that intersection more of a death trap than it is now. I hope they are putting up a temporary traffic signal????? For me, it doesn’t really matter, we have written off going to that area for the next 2 years.

There's no logic or commonsense behind this underpass. The bigger delays going south are after the Central intersection and going north before the intersection. Going west is generally fine and East is bad due to the road narrowing near the stadium.

My daughter's school is close to there and I drive this route twice a day. If it is as bad as I imagine, I will seriously reconsider living in Phuket, despite having a business here.

NB I opened this thread expecting to read about someone's heart operation!

There's no logic or commonsense behind this underpass. The bigger delays going south are after the Central intersection and going north before the intersection. Going west is generally fine and East is bad due to the road narrowing near the stadium.

My daughter's school is close to there and I drive this route twice a day. If it is as bad as I imagine, I will seriously reconsider living in Phuket, despite having a business here.

NB I opened this thread expecting to read about someone's heart operation!

>>NB I opened this thread expecting to read about someone's heart operation!

All this traffic congestion for the next two years might send someone for a heart operation!

How bad will It Be?

Absolutely Horrendous!

Hit that area at a bad time now and it can take up to an hour.

if it comes down to priority, the underpass would be way down the list regarding highways and roads, i'm sure everyone could pick out a higher priority road or area that needs done, we all mention the lack of common sense when relating to thais, but surely someone in authority or a government official must be taking notice of the mayhem regarding, roads, drainage, and build, is there any TV member who is privy or has a connection or insight into how these decisions are made. the word corruption is normally associated in the mix somewhere, are they improving or just mucking everything up????

if it comes down to priority, the underpass would be way down the list regarding highways and roads, i'm sure everyone could pick out a higher priority road or area that needs done, we all mention the lack of common sense when relating to thais, but surely someone in authority or a government official must be taking notice of the mayhem regarding, roads, drainage, and build, is there any TV member who is privy or has a connection or insight into how these decisions are made. the word corruption is normally associated in the mix somewhere, are they improving or just mucking everything up????

In this case, mucking should be spelled with an F.

There's no logic or commonsense behind this underpass. The bigger delays going south are after the Central intersection and going north before the intersection. Going west is generally fine and East is bad due to the road narrowing near the stadium.

My daughter's school is close to there and I drive this route twice a day. If it is as bad as I imagine, I will seriously reconsider living in Phuket, despite having a business here.

NB I opened this thread expecting to read about someone's heart operation!

>>NB I opened this thread expecting to read about someone's heart operation!

All this traffic congestion for the next two years might send someone for a heart operation!

Gotcha!

Don't know why you're all moaning. The contract stipulates that it must be completed in only 720 days.