Widening Of Beach Rd Started At North End

[thaibeachlovers]

If the new lane is being used for vehicle parking and the inside lane reverts to being used to park motorcycle rentals, then nothing has been gained in terms of easing traffic flow.

Very few tourists will have cars to park, so the main ones to benefit will be the Thai 'day and weekend' trippers from Bangkok.

Maybe that's the plan....

There are more weekend tourists from Bkk than there are from overseas, so that would make sense.

As there are only 2 lanes from Walking Street to Second Rd, it is pointless to have 3 or 4 lanes along the beach.

[Mobi]

If the new lane is being used for vehicle parking and the inside lane reverts to being used to park motorcycle rentals, then nothing has been gained in terms of easing traffic flow.

Very few tourists will have cars to park, so the main ones to benefit will be the Thai 'day and weekend' trippers from Bangkok.

Maybe that's the plan....

There are more weekend tourists from Bkk than there are from overseas, so that would make sense.

As there are only 2 lanes from Walking Street to Second Rd, it is pointless to have 3 or 4 lanes along the beach.

You may be correct, but my experience is that once you get to the road close the walking street end of Beach Road, the traffic usually runs a lot quicker than it does further back.

If you enter Beach Road from Pattaya Nua, as likely as not, at almost any time of the day or night your progress will be painfully slow. It will be impeded by Baht busses stopping in the middle of the road, double decker busses parked for inordinate lengths of time and other miscellaneous vehicles stopping or waiting for God only knows what reason – to say nothing of rubbish collection and other City vehicles servicing the beach area and all causing massive jams.

Once you reach the Walking Street turn, (which is actually three lanes), the traffic flows quicker as it is feeding into the three lane PattayaTai, the right turn lane into the road running along the back of Walking Street and also left into the 4- lane Second Road.

If the plan is to attract more Thai visitors from Bangkok by creating more parking spaces for them on Beach road, then fine. Who are we to disagree? Maybe they are right. Maybe these middle class and a few high end Thais spend more money than the foreign package tourists. I wouldn’t know, but I can say that places like Central are packed with Bangkok Thais on high days and holidays and they all seem to be spending.

I Wonder of any kind of feasibility study was done, or was it simply a case of ‘that seems like a good idea, and it will create loads of opportunities for nice fat kick-backs.’

[threelegcowboy]

Frolicking Golden Mermaid and Dolphin Statue located at Beach and Klang Rd
was taken down early this afteernoon. I did not get to see this happen. Did anybody see the deed and give details.

LLL

[Asia2000]

Rest of Dolphin statue removed today.

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[Asia2000]

Expat's mourns over lost meeting place.

The dolphins was removed yesterday morning, and this afternoon the rest of Dolphin statue on beach road / Central road / Pattaya klang was demolished. Many expats and sun lovers was in the area, and all talking about 'where are we going to sit now? / where are we going to meet up now?'. Some even grabbed some piece of the demolished tiles and went home, nostalgia.

Beach road getting shorter and shorter these days, and lack of a place to sit and relax are increasing. All benches from soi 7 to Central Plaza was fully occupied early this afternoon.

Hope City Hall pay attention to this, tourists appreciate a place to sit down on the beach for a rest, and talk among friends. One can always hope.

[ThaiBob]

Some people think we have lost a piece of Pattaya history, please realize it wasn't the Trevi Fountain that was just removed, but something that was tasteless and not in keeping with Thai culture. Maybe the city fathers will replace it with a giant spirit house or jet ski sculpture.

[Asia2000]

Tonight 9 pm, only memories left.

Rest of Pattaya beach road was busy and far between a place to sit. Enjoy the old beach road, it:s soon gone forever.

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[coralia]

Some people think we have lost a piece of Pattaya history, please realize it wasn't the Trevi Fountain that was just removed, but something that was tasteless and not in keeping with Thai culture. Maybe the city fathers will replace it with a giant spirit house or jet ski sculpture.

[threelegcowboy]

I was told that the sculpture was moved with straps used on a hydraulic lift onto a flatbed truck. Only slight damage to one of the dolphins fins. Probably going to someones back yard pool. LOL

To counter the bad comments about the statue I must say:

Frolicking Golden Mermaid and Dolphins Statue truly captured Pattaya's spirit. Not so much a Thai culture statement but a feeling that the Western world understands. RIP

[marinediscoking]

Yes it was a sad thing to see.

But in with the new and out with new as they say.

Edited June 7, 2013 by marinediscoking

[LennyW]

Expat's mourns over lost meeting place.

The dolphins was removed yesterday morning, and this afternoon the rest of Dolphin statue on beach road / Central road / Pattaya klang was demolished. Many expats and sun lovers was in the area, and all talking about 'where are we going to sit now? / where are we going to meet up now?'. Some even grabbed some piece of the demolished tiles and went home, nostalgia.

Beach road getting shorter and shorter these days, and lack of a place to sit and relax are increasing. All benches from soi 7 to Central Plaza was fully occupied early this afternoon.

Hope City Hall pay attention to this, tourists appreciate a place to sit down on the beach for a rest, and talk among friends. One can always hope.

"Beach road getting shorter and shorter these days" No it's not, it's the same length now as it was 10 years ago!

[Rigsby]

A friend of mine who walks down the beach daily, got his towel out and sat down on the sand the other day.

He was told he had to pay 30 Bht !!! He told them in no uncertain terms where to go !!! Outragous !!

[threelegcowboy]

Looking to buy a foldable chair as shown. This seems to be the proper chair to use on the new beach sidewalk. Store and price would be nice.

[PoodMaiDai]

A friend of mine who walks down the beach daily, got his towel out and sat down on the sand the other day.

He was told he had to pay 30 Bht !!! He told them in no uncertain terms where to go !!! Outragous !!

30b to sit on the beach on his own towel in the sand?

Do I smell the next scam cooking?

[Asia2000]

Work progress per June 08; 2013.

Photos taken from Soi 3 beach road going to Central road Pattaya Klang. From north end to Soi 3 it's more or less 'completed'. From soi 3 until Soi 6 it's little bit here and there.

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[thaibeachlovers]

Looking to buy a foldable chair as shown. This seems to be the proper chair to use on the new beach sidewalk. Store and price would be nice.

Perhaps when the walkway is completed, hundreds ( ?thousands ) of tourists could take their own chairs to do a "sit in" on the walkway. That'd show city hall .

[LennyW]

Work progress per June 08; 2013.

Photos taken from Soi 3 beach road going to Central road Pattaya Klang. From north end to Soi 3 it's more or less 'completed'. From soi 3 until Soi 6 it's little bit here and there.

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Pictures 3.4 and 5 actually look quite nice, plenty of open space,should be okay when all finished.

[NanLaew]

...

If the plan is to attract more Thai visitors from Bangkok by creating more parking spaces for them on Beach road, then fine. Who are we to disagree? Maybe they are right. ...

There will be 4 lanes; the existing left lane will be unchanged, ie. blocked with rental motorcycles interspersed with no parking areas (buses only), food carts and the plastic chairs of motorcycle taxi guys and gormless punters selling sidewalk tat to tourists. The newest, seaside lane will be the preserve of the tour buses ONLY and they can now park up all night instead of blocking all the other roads. The middle two lanes will be same as the outer 2 lanes at present; nearside lane intermittently blocked by baht buses stopping wherever they want and the outside lane intermittently blocked by the 'better than the other' tour bus driver doing drop-off and pick-up.

[NanLaew]

Work progress per June 08; 2013.

Photos taken from Soi 3 beach road going to Central road Pattaya Klang. From north end to Soi 3 it's more or less 'completed'. From soi 3 until Soi 6 it's little bit here and there.

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Pictures 3.4 and 5 actually look quite nice, plenty of open space,should be okay when all finished.

I took an 'observation' drive around 10 am this morning. Does the Thai office look like it will FINALLY get some parking space? The rest looks quite nice until you get to the barriers where they are still 'work in progress' and then it gets really messy. They are pouring cement pavement opposite Klang so from now on, it is really going to get nasty, especially opposite Central and heading south. I noticed that east-side kerb parking was blocked north of Klang but they hadn't started blocking the east side kerb parking from Soi 7 southwards so that must have meant single lane traffic this afternoon.... all trying to get to Central?

I have heard that there's a 'problem' with some sort of 'lines' on the seaward side and that shortly after completion of the new 4th lane, it will have to be torn up for these 'lines' to be 'done properly'. Another cash cow Pattaya City contract has probably already been signed. I reckon it won't be the current contractor who is doing what appears to be a quality job, but perhaps the other company that does cheap, slow work... like the Pratumnak/Jomtien hill road guys maybe?

[blackman]

they should reverse the traffic flow

two lanes into pattaya thai turn right past walking street and then widen into four lanes to speed flow

buses could alight passengers directly beachside

better all round

[marinediscoking]

After taking a closer look at the part of the new lane that has been recently completed I am thinking it will be used for parking. If the city decides to use it for driving it is only 3/4 as wide as the 2 current lanes. The right hand side wheels of the cars and buses will have to be driving on top of the steel drain covers to fit into that lane. Other wise they will have to re-stripe the lanes taking some space from the existing other two, this of course would make 3 narrow lanes if they choose to do that.

[NanLaew]

they should reverse the traffic flow

two lanes into pattaya thai turn right past walking street and then widen into four lanes to speed flow

buses could alight passengers directly beachside

better all round

Back in the heady days of my prodigiously profligate youth, all roads and soi's in Pattaya were 2-way. It would be nice to see this flexibility again but then you would have traffic coming out of the soi's turning across traffic and speeding motorcycles... the whole bloody lot would need re-educating again.

As you say, even if they make the new lane a contra flow lane for tour buses only, it would make perfect sense as they could collectively and safely ejaculate their loads directly onto the beach.

[NanLaew]

After taking a closer look at the part of the new lane that has been recently completed I am thinking it will be used for parking. If the city decides to use it for driving it is only 3/4 as wide as the 2 current lanes. The right hand side wheels of the cars and buses will have to be driving on top of the steel drain covers to fit into that lane. Other wise they will have to re-stripe the lanes taking some space from the existing other two, this of course would make 3 narrow lanes if they choose to do that.

Nothing to say that they can't restripe the new pavement for 4 slightly narrower lanes.... or even 5 really narrow ones for that matter. That is already somewhere in the Bangkok Metropolitan Handbook on Traffic Management.

I remember making a trip into downtown New Orleans after they had decided to improve traffic flow and get rid of the hard-shoulder lanes on either side of the elevateds and ramps, effectively adding another lane... bloody terrifying doing 55 mph with the concrete median about 6" beyond the wing mirrors! Piece of piss for the average Pattaya Beach road flyer tho'.

[brewsterbudgen]

LennyW, on 08 Jun 2013 - 17:40, said:

Asia2000, on 08 Jun 2013 - 16:51, said:

Work progress per June 08; 2013.

Photos taken from Soi 3 beach road going to Central road Pattaya Klang. From north end to Soi 3 it's more or less 'completed'. From soi 3 until Soi 6 it's little bit here and there.

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Pictures 3.4 and 5 actually look quite nice, plenty of open space,should be okay when all finished.

Yes, looking good and a definite improvement.

[Awohalitsiktoli]

I think it is not a "definite improvement." I think it is a disaster. The nice, colored bricks will soon not look so nice. The shade trees have been removed. There is no place to sit. And the traffic will now be much closer to pedestrians who want to walk or jog down that path. I just took a drive from the former "Mermaid-Dolfin" statue to Walking Street. I noticed that around Soi 10 or so the path gets much narrower until you get near Walking Street. If they add another lane to that already narrow space, the result will not be good. It will be a very narrow pathway. And, as stated many times, the turn from Beach Road to South Road (aka. Pattaya Thai or something like that) will be overcongested, causing a massive traffic jam.

[Asia2000]

I think it is not a "definite improvement." I think it is a disaster. The nice, colored bricks will soon not look so nice. The shade trees have been removed. There is no place to sit.

I agree, unless City Hall or Pattaya Companies will sponsor:

* high water preasure tractors, on duty every night.

* Benches with some kind of sun shades.

* Public toilets, something Pattaya beach always needed.

maybe a more modern type>

* more, much more garbage containers

More estethic one maybe>

And alot of these out every night, making Pattaya a Beach road to be proud of.

Just give them better and more modern equippment .....

Yes I believe in Santa Claus

[Awohalitsiktoli]

I think it is not a "definite improvement." I think it is a disaster. The nice, colored bricks will soon not look so nice. The shade trees have been removed. There is no place to sit.

I agree, unless City Hall or Pattaya Companies will sponsor:

* high water preasure tractors, on duty every night.

street flusher.jpg

* Benches with some kind of sun shades.

Public Bench.jpg

* Public toilets, something Pattaya beach always needed.

k7990246.jpg maybe a more modern type> k7764644.jpg

* more, much more garbage containers

Thai street garbage container.jpg More estethic one maybe> Thailand garbage container small.jpg

And alot of these out every night, making Pattaya a Beach road to be proud of.

Thailand street cleaners.jpgThailand street cleaners.jpg

Just give them better and more modern equippment .....

Yes I believe in Santa Claus

Those are good ideas. Will they be implemented? Will Hell ever freeze over?

[thaibeachlovers]

I think it is not a "definite improvement." I think it is a disaster. The nice, colored bricks will soon not look so nice. The shade trees have been removed. There is no place to sit. And the traffic will now be much closer to pedestrians who want to walk or jog down that path. I just took a drive from the former "Mermaid-Dolfin" statue to Walking Street. I noticed that around Soi 10 or so the path gets much narrower until you get near Walking Street. If they add another lane to that already narrow space, the result will not be good. It will be a very narrow pathway. And, as stated many times, the turn from Beach Road to South Road (aka. Pattaya Thai or something like that) will be overcongested, causing a massive traffic jam.

That can be easily corrected by reclaiming some of the beach for the walkway.

When I was in Pattaya, I read that it won't be finished till March 2014. That means it will still be a big mess through the high season. Couldn't make it up!

[thaibeachlovers]

I think it is not a "definite improvement." I think it is a disaster. The nice, colored bricks will soon not look so nice. The shade trees have been removed. There is no place to sit.

I agree, unless City Hall or Pattaya Companies will sponsor:

* high water preasure tractors, on duty every night.

street flusher.jpg

* Benches with some kind of sun shades.

Public Bench.jpg

* Public toilets, something Pattaya beach always needed.

k7990246.jpg maybe a more modern type> k7764644.jpg

* more, much more garbage containers

Thai street garbage container.jpg More estethic one maybe> Thailand garbage container small.jpg

And alot of these out every night, making Pattaya a Beach road to be proud of.

Thailand street cleaners.jpgThailand street cleaners.jpg

Just give them better and more modern equippment .....

Yes I believe in Santa Claus

Benches not part of the walkway will soon disappear.

They tried one of those toilets in Chiang Mai. It sits derelict now.

[brewsterbudgen]

I think it is not a "definite improvement." I think it is a disaster. The nice, colored bricks will soon not look so nice. The shade trees have been removed. There is no place to sit. And the traffic will now be much closer to pedestrians who want to walk or jog down that path. I just took a drive from the former "Mermaid-Dolfin" statue to Walking Street. I noticed that around Soi 10 or so the path gets much narrower until you get near Walking Street. If they add another lane to that already narrow space, the result will not be good. It will be a very narrow pathway. And, as stated many times, the turn from Beach Road to South Road (aka. Pattaya Thai or something like that) will be overcongested, causing a massive traffic jam.

Give them a chance. It's not finished yet.