The underpass fiasco

[Valentine]

Passing through there this morning had a large drop of water splat on the windscreen when in the middle of the underpass. Could it be leaking & if so could the water be travelling along a crack before dropping down. It may not seem like a big issue now.

[Argus Tuft]

Passing through there this morning had a large drop of water splat on the windscreen when in the middle of the underpass. Could it be leaking & if so could the water be travelling along a crack before dropping down. It may not seem like a big issue now.

I don't think so it is a big issue. It could be just the condensed water inside the cement roofs, wind blows through and cools down the surface maybe, just a guess for one reason

[Old Croc]

According to a report in a local news source the tunnel stayed open through yesterday's downpour which dumped 43 mm on Phuket City.

Surrounding roads above it were flooded.

Edited May 25, 2015 by Old Croc

[ovenman]

Are ALL motorcycles unable [by law or by the sign!] to use the central underpass? what about big bikes?

The prohibited signage does not differentiate between small or bike bikes = all motor bikes prohibited.

Any idea why motorbikes are banned? They're not banned from using any of the numerous underpasses here in Chiang Mai.

[JetsetBkk]

According to a report in a local news source the tunnel stayed open through yesterday's downpour which dumped 43 mm on Phuket City.

Surrounding roads above it were flooded.

Perhaps the "surrounding roads" were where all the tunnel's rainwater was being pumped?

[madmitch]

I was, perhaps foolishly, hoping that the underpass would improve traffic in all directions at Central junction but East/West seems just the same as it ever was. I'd guess they haven't adjusted the traffic lights to take into account the fewer number of vehicles travelling North/South overground.

Or have I just been unlucky when I've taken that route?

[The Big Mango]

Pw is reporting a 4 car shunt last night around 6.30 in the tunnel.

[Valentine]

I was, perhaps foolishly, hoping that the underpass would improve traffic in all directions at Central junction but East/West seems just the same as it ever was. I'd guess they haven't adjusted the traffic lights to take into account the fewer number of vehicles travelling North/South overground.

Or have I just been unlucky when I've taken that route?

You may remember it took about 3 years or so to get the configuration right at the Central junction. T-junction on Chao Fa West & Thanon Kwang is another that springs to mind as being badly configured but that is only less than one year since the median strip was put in place.

[KarenBravo]

I was, perhaps foolishly, hoping that the underpass would improve traffic in all directions at Central junction but East/West seems just the same as it ever was. I'd guess they haven't adjusted the traffic lights to take into account the fewer number of vehicles travelling North/South overground.

Or have I just been unlucky when I've taken that route?

You may remember it took about 3 years or so to get the configuration right at the Central junction. T-junction on Chao Fa West & Thanon Kwang is another that springs to mind as being badly configured but that is only less than one year since the median strip was put in place.

Yes, northbound is two minutes of red, while southbound is a lot less.

Apparently, this is because of U-turns on Chao fah, southbound back to northbound.

Hardly anyone does them and if they banned that U-turn altogether, then northbound traffic would flow better.

[Valentine]

I was, perhaps foolishly, hoping that the underpass would improve traffic in all directions at Central junction but East/West seems just the same as it ever was. I'd guess they haven't adjusted the traffic lights to take into account the fewer number of vehicles travelling North/South overground.

Or have I just been unlucky when I've taken that route?

You may remember it took about 3 years or so to get the configuration right at the Central junction. T-junction on Chao Fa West & Thanon Kwang is another that springs to mind as being badly configured but that is only less than one year since the median strip was put in place.

Yes, northbound is two minutes of red, while southbound is a lot less.

Apparently, this is because of U-turns on Chao fah, southbound back to northbound.

Hardly anyone does them and if they banned that U-turn altogether, then northbound traffic would flow better.

There are not that many right turners into Thanon Kwang so the best option is to have both north & southbound moving at the same time with a short period for the U & right turn. However the road would need to be a little wider on the side moving south for this to be truly effective.

Reminds me of the announcement about widening Chao Fa after the underpass, which of course has not happened apart form a small section. It needs to be widened all the way to the T junction near Promphan.

[NamKangMan]

Are ALL motorcycles unable [by law or by the sign!] to use the central underpass? what about big bikes?

The prohibited signage does not differentiate between small or bike bikes = all motor bikes prohibited.

Any idea why motorbikes are banned? They're not banned from using any of the numerous underpasses here in Chiang Mai.

Banning motorbikes lessens the accident statistics.

[stevenl]

Are ALL motorcycles unable [by law or by the sign!] to use the central underpass? what about big bikes?

The prohibited signage does not differentiate between small or bike bikes = all motor bikes prohibited.

Any idea why motorbikes are banned? They're not banned from using any of the numerous underpasses here in Chiang Mai.

Banning motorbikes lessens the accident statistics.

Can't see how it would reduce the statistics without reducing the accidents. So that would make it a good measure.

[Pomthai]

Yesterday when heading south through the newish Darasamuth underpass, there are two gantry warning signs on the approach. The first one near big C and the second right at the entrance to the underpass.

That first approach gantry had 3 green arrows ↓---↓---↓, indicating that the tunnel was one way south. Thought that was strange, kept left only to see that the second gantry which is right on the entrance had 1 green arrow ↓---x---x, then two red crosses.

The signs are obviously out of sync, your potentially sent towards oncoming traffic and then abruptly warned otherwise. Its dangerous enough as it is without the signs being wrong or inconsistent. Be careful out there.

[grumpyoldman]

Yesterday when heading south through the newish Darasamuth underpass, there are two gantry warning signs on the approach. The first one near big C and the second right at the entrance to the underpass.

That first approach gantry had 3 green arrows ↓---↓---↓, indicating that the tunnel was one way south. Thought that was strange, kept left only to see that the second gantry which is right on the entrance had 1 green arrow ↓---x---x, then two red crosses.

The signs are obviously out of sync, your potentially sent towards oncoming traffic and then abruptly warned otherwise. Its dangerous enough as it is without the signs being wrong or inconsistent. Be careful out there.

Will agree here.This is a dangerous situation, somebody is absolutely going to misinterpret what they are seeing and go barrelling into oncoming. They need to make this system more consistent.

[LivinginKata]

Yesterday when heading south through the newish Darasamuth underpass, there are two gantry warning signs on the approach. The first one near big C and the second right at the entrance to the underpass.

That first approach gantry had 3 green arrows ↓---↓---↓, indicating that the tunnel was one way south. Thought that was strange, kept left only to see that the second gantry which is right on the entrance had 1 green arrow ↓---x---x, then two red crosses.

The signs are obviously out of sync, your potentially sent towards oncoming traffic and then abruptly warned otherwise. Its dangerous enough as it is without the signs being wrong or inconsistent. Be careful out there.

Will agree here.This is a dangerous situation, somebody is absolutely going to misinterpret what they are seeing and go barrelling into oncoming. They need to make this system more consistent.

Last week I was heading north, the 2 north bound lanes green, but I still hugged the nearside lane fully expecting some idiot to come barreling down the middle lane south bound.

[Valentine]

Yesterday when heading south through the newish Darasamuth underpass, there are two gantry warning signs on the approach. The first one near big C and the second right at the entrance to the underpass.

That first approach gantry had 3 green arrows ↓---↓---↓, indicating that the tunnel was one way south. Thought that was strange, kept left only to see that the second gantry which is right on the entrance had 1 green arrow ↓---x---x, then two red crosses.

The signs are obviously out of sync, your potentially sent towards oncoming traffic and then abruptly warned otherwise. Its dangerous enough as it is without the signs being wrong or inconsistent. Be careful out there.

Will agree here.This is a dangerous situation, somebody is absolutely going to misinterpret what they are seeing and go barrelling into oncoming. They need to make this system more consistent.

Last week I was heading north, the 2 north bound lanes green, but I still hugged the nearside lane fully expecting some idiot to come barreling down the middle lane south bound.

Very sensible. Most likely there will be a major head on collision in there. I do not believe those 3 green arrows are an issue as I look at them to indicate the road lanes are open going that way. What is a safety hazard are the cars & bikes which do U turns almost right in front of the underpass entrance/exit yet there is a perfectly viable U turn just further up before the lights.

[Old Croc]

Before it opened, when they announced it was to be three lanes, many here anticipated there would be many problems of this sort.

I seem to recall they said there would be removable barriers separating the lanes. What happened to this plan? Not enough width to place these barriers?

There's been a couple of minor accidents in there already, I'm waiting for the first high speed head on between boy racers late one night.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Old Croc

[madmitch]

According to the PG work on the Chalong Circle underpass is due to start this month! I am positively dreading this as there are no feasible alternative routes into Phuket Town and, more importantly for me, my daughter's school. I was hoping that the feasibility study would come up with reasons not to go ahead with this project, scheduled for 780 days, so if the other projects are anything to go by that'll be close to three years.

Still, with the current state of the roads nearby it looks like they've started construction already!

[steelepulse]

Went through the underpass a couple of days ago going South around 6 pm. Traffic was completely backed up to where you descend into the tunnel. Don't know if this is normal, but it took quite a while to get through, so the tunnel provided no relief whatsoever from the traffic woes.

[KarenBravo]

Went through the underpass a couple of days ago going South around 6 pm. Traffic was completely backed up to where you descend into the tunnel. Don't know if this is normal, but it took quite a while to get through, so the tunnel provided no relief whatsoever from the traffic woes.

Which is what most of the posters on here have been saying all along.

The choke point is the traffic lights at Naka where the road goes from three lanes to two.

[steelepulse]

Went through the underpass a couple of days ago going South around 6 pm. Traffic was completely backed up to where you descend into the tunnel. Don't know if this is normal, but it took quite a while to get through, so the tunnel provided no relief whatsoever from the traffic woes.

Which is what most of the posters on here have been saying all along.

The choke point is the traffic lights at Naka where the road goes from three lanes to two.

Correct, and I thought the same, but have never had to do this route at this time of day. It's a traffic cluster**** between the cars coming from Phuket Town turning left and merging along with the traffic from the lights also merging. Come to think of it, it might have been faster to go through the lights instead of the underpass.

[Old Croc]

Went through the underpass a couple of days ago going South around 6 pm. Traffic was completely backed up to where you descend into the tunnel. Don't know if this is normal, but it took quite a while to get through, so the tunnel provided no relief whatsoever from the traffic woes.

Which is what most of the posters on here have been saying all along.

The choke point is the traffic lights at Naka where the road goes from three lanes to two.

If you can believe it there are plans to upgrade the road south of the tunnel:

“We also plan to expand Chao Fa West Road from Naka Junction until the t-junction before Phuket Bird Park. Officers are in the process of requesting 15 meters of land back on each side of the road,” Mr Samak said. -

See more at: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Phuket-allocated-B35bn-infrastructure-upgrades/61440#ad-image-0

[KarenBravo]

Yes, I read that, too. At least they recognize where the problem is.

Of course, when you get to Chalong circle, everything is going to be at a stand-still for the next two years.

[JetsetBkk]

Went through the underpass a couple of days ago going South around 6 pm. Traffic was completely backed up to where you descend into the tunnel. Don't know if this is normal, but it took quite a while to get through, so the tunnel provided no relief whatsoever from the traffic woes.

Which is what most of the posters on here have been saying all along.

The choke point is the traffic lights at Naka where the road goes from three lanes to two.

Correct, and I thought the same, but have never had to do this route at this time of day. It's a traffic cluster**** between the cars coming from Phuket Town turning left and merging along with the traffic from the lights also merging. Come to think of it, it might have been faster to go through the lights instead of the underpass.

It'd probably be quicker to turn right at the lights and go towards Kathu and then left at the next lights just before Makro.

[Valentine]

On the way to the airport yesterday the U turn on bypass next to Kee Hin was backed up quite considerably with a couple of cars trying to push in at the front. However, that was not the problem. Nobody could move because some clown in a Fortuner had come form the side street on the other side & was directly in the path of the U turn facing north i.e. he was inside the cones that are there for the U turners on the Kee Hin side make the turn safely.

[Valentine]

On the way home yesterday around 5.30pm coming down the side road from the stadium to get on to Chao Fa West. Pure grid lock & certainly no better, if not worse, than it was few years back when I did the daily school run through there. The underpass is generally quite good during the day but traffic in that area will not improve during peak hour until the road is widened all the way through to the T junction just past Promphan.

[KarenBravo]

Was it a black, or white Fortuner?

[Valentine]

Was it a black, or white Fortuner?

Silver. Fortuners & their drivers would be a whole new topic.

[phuketsub]

Just back in Phuket for a visit. I was a big critic of the tunnel from the outset, but I have to admit that it has greatly improved flow along Vichit-Songkhraam Road through the junction...That said, the traffic situation in/around Phuket Town seems to be worse than ever in general and I don't understand how going 3D with road infrastructure will improve the situation in the long run.

[Valentine]

Just back in Phuket for a visit. I was a big critic of the tunnel from the outset, but I have to admit that it has greatly improved flow along Vichit-Songkhraam Road through the junction...That said, the traffic situation in/around Phuket Town seems to be worse than ever in general and I don't understand how going 3D with road infrastructure will improve the situation in the long run.

There needs to be some serious land procurement happening in the town to widen the roads otherwise there will be total gridlock soon. Also on main feeders such as Chao Fa West which approaches gridlock most days around 5pm from the underpass through to Kajonkiet.