Rain softening up land, leading to some Bangkok roads caving in

[webfact]

Rain softening up land, leading to some roads caving in
The Nation


Workers close an underground wiring shaft on Ram-Indra Road with slabs of concrete. The rear part of a trailer truck fell into the 7-metre deep hole yesterday morning, causing severe congestion. The truck driver escaped without injuries.

BANGKOK: -- Deputy Bangkok Governor Jumpol Sampaophol partly blames the prolonged rain for several recent road accidents in the city, suggesting that rainwater can significantly soften land layers. The capital has lately seen a number of road portions succumbing and pipes bursting.

In the latest incident, a trailer-truck fell into an unfinished tunnel for electricity cables yesterday.

Jumpol pointed the finger at some officials, too. He said that sometimes agencies working on the roads left temporary covers on manholes and tunnels for too long, which made them prone to accidents.

Fortunately, no one was injured in yesterday's accident because only the trailer part of the truck fell into the tunnel, which is 6.5 metres wide, 7.5 metres long and 7.5 metres deep.

Police said the accident happened at 11am on Ram-Indra Road near the front of Soi Ram-Indra 1 in Tharaeng subdistrict of Bang Khen district.

Police said the construction of the tunnel for electricity cables had not been completed yet and its temporary cover had fallen down when the truck arrived at the scene.

Officials spent about an hour lifting the truck's trailer from the tunnel.

Amporn Pharpnok, 51, the truck driver, said he had been delivering gravel from Saraburi to a company on Rama IX road. When he reached the spot, he suddenly noticed a large hole on the road in front of him, so he swerved to the right, but the trailer still fell into the hole.

"I was very shocked. I narrowly escaped death. I didn't imagine that a large hole would suddenly appear before me. I would have been killed had I not swerved to the right in time," Amporn said.

Krit Kiatponchart, the director of Bang Khen district office, said an investigation would be carried out on how the concrete cover of the tunnel slid out, leaving it open.

The accident caused a traffic snarl in the area.

Since the great flooding in 2011, there have been several cases of Bangkok roads caving in and underground water pipes bursting.

Major accidents include:

_ October 16, 2013: A backhoe damaged an underground water pipe on Rajprarop Road near the Makkhasan intersection and Ratchathewi Airport Rail Link station at 7.30am. The gushing water was about one metre high and the tap water inundated the road and shophouses with 30-centimetre-deep water, resulting in traffic snarls.

_ October 16, 2013: The outbound Rama III Road near the Mahaisawan intersection caved in, leaving a 20cm-wide hole, at 11.30am.

The metal sheet covering an electricity manhole came apart after heavy rain.

_ October 17, 2013: An underground 3-metre-diameter water pipe in front of Centre One shopping mall burst and water gushed out to inundate the road.

_ September 25, 2013: Charoen Krung Road near Lengneng Yi Temple caved in, causing a hole 3 metres wide, 6 metres long and 3 metres deep.

The accident happened near the construction site of a subway station. On the same day, Rama V Road in front of Dusit Condominium also caved in, leaving a 2-metre-deep hole, which was 25cm wide and 1.3 metres long.

_ March 18, 2012: The inbound Rama IV Road near the Thai-Belgian Bridge caved in, leaving a hole measuring 5 metres wide, 3 metres long and 2 metres deep. The accident happened at around 3am.


-- The Nation 2013-10-19

[Patje]

Rain softening up land, leading to some roads caving in......

In other countries it does not rain therefor they have stabile roads......

Well, we are lucky only some roads cave in, that leaves us room to drive on the other ones that are not made of paper

[seajae]

hahahaha, yes its not the fact that they dont build them properly due to pocketing all the money and using crap materials and then not compacting etc as they are supposed to is it. I go along a road that has the truck tire marks at least 6" into the bitumen(perfect grooves), this only happens when the road hasnt been built right(not road base/compacted, thin bitumen), just look at how quickly new roads fall apart. It is the lack of quality and money that causes it, they are too busy taking all their "profit" from the jobs, nothing to do with the rain at all but it is a good excuse for them.

[FarangTalk]

hahahaha, yes its not the fact that they dont build them properly due to pocketing all the money and using crap materials and then not compacting etc as they are supposed to is it. I go along a road that has the truck tire marks at least 6" into the bitumen(perfect grooves), this only happens when the road hasnt been built right(not road base/compacted, thin bitumen), just look at how quickly new roads fall apart. It is the lack of quality and money that causes it, they are too busy taking all their "profit" from the jobs, nothing to do with the rain at all but it is a good excuse for them.

Spot on.

Watered-down cement is one of the biggest money-spinners.

My bet is the rain has something to do with it but shoddy engineering and corruption will be the biggest culprits as per.

[BeforeTigers]

I don't believe I've ever seen any roadwork actually finished.
They tear up the road, dump parts and pieces all over the side of the road, usually blocking the entrance to nearby businesses, and then leave it sitting there unfinished for months on end before coming back to aaaaalmost finish before leaving the site permanantly semi-complete. Potholes and caveins tba.

In my experience anyway.

[webfact]

Deputy Bangkok Governor: Continuous rainfall to blame for recent road mishaps

BANGKOK: -- After a number of roads seen caving in and pipes bursting recently, Deputy Bangkok Governor Jumpol Sampaophol has come out to blame the continuous rainfall, saying that the rain has soften the land layers leading to the accidents.

Deputy Governor Jumpol also blamed some officials. According to him, sometimes agencies responsible for the road works left temporary covers on manholes and tunnels for an excessive amount of time, causing them to be prone to accidents.

He added that if more accidents are seen, the BMA will not allow the company responsible for that accident to undertake any more projects with the BMA. The move will help the BMA screen out projects which lack proper planning.

Since the great flooding 2 years ago, there have been several cases of Bangkok roads caving in and underground water pipes bursting.


-- NNT 2013-10-19

[Digitalbanana]

Good to see the BMA taking a pro-active stance on screening road crews!

He added that if more accidents are seen, the BMA will not allow the company responsible for that accident to undertake any more projects with the BMA. The move will help the BMA screen out projects which lack proper planning.

Edited October 19, 2013 by Digitalbanana

[shaurene]

The roads are like the government, full of holes that cannot be repaired. The government should make these contract firms responsible for compensation payouts to the government and the public for injury and damage to vehicles then they may take notice regarding safety.

[yourauntbob]

Blame it on the rain

I wonder if they will ever run out of things to blame or fingers to point in the wrong direction. I guess its no worse than in the west were we have "an investigation" or "fact finding mission" that never leads to anything more than talk.

[Cuban]

The officials that manage the funds to place construction projects state:

- It's the rain's fault for being wet and raining too much in one place !

- It's the land's fault for not being strong enough !

Meanwhile the road designers, engineers and construction crew look forward to overtime and further contracts priced to ensure there is profit after kick-backs have been paid.

[selftaopath]

The roads are like the government, full of holes that cannot be repaired. The government should make these contract firms responsible for compensation payouts to the government and the public for injury and damage to vehicles then they may take notice regarding safety.

But aren't government officials in on the "scams"?