Work begins on Pattaya- Chonburi Highway toll booths

[Rimmer]

Work begins on Pattaya- Chonburi Highway toll booths

PATTAYA:--Work has begun on erecting toll booths on the Pattaya-Chonburi Highway that should become operational by August 2016.

Three toll booths are planned at the Pattaya interchange near the Regent’s School, the Laem Chabang interchange and Bangpra interchange. The money collected will be used to pay off construction already begun to widen the highway and expand it in the port area.

The toll includes construction of new U-turns, concrete barriers and the booths themselves, as well as installation of the toll-collection system, which will rely on cards to meter fares.

Work began Nov. 1 on the fare-collection system, traffic control system and public works. Buildings slated to go up include the main control building, one sub-control annex and two toll canopies.

All Motorway Corp was given the 4 billion baht contract from the Expressway Authority of Thailand and will do all the work, including construction of the reinforced concrete and asphalt roads.

- See more at: http://www.pattayamail.com/localnews/work-begins-on-pattaya-chonburi-highway-toll-booths-43355#sthash.ktgaPb8c.dpuf

-- Pattaya Mail 2014-12-05

[Briggsy]

Does that mean motorbikes will no longer be able to use the motorway between Phan Thong and Pattaya?

Edited December 5, 2014 by Briggsy

[Anthony5]

Why they say that work began on November 1 while in fact it started almost 6 months ago, and the picture isn't near the regents school either, but rather at the Nong Prue exit, which is more than 5 km away from the Regents school intersection.

[yankee99]

Does that mean motorbikes will no longer be able to use the motorway between Phan Thong and Pattaya?

Never seen a motorbike legally go through a tool plaza on thailand

[craigt3365]

Let's just hope they get the electronic payment figured out. It's been out of service for a looooong time. And the queues at the toll booths is ridiculous.

[jacko45k]

That Regents school interchange is near where I live so it is disappointing that I will need to pay a toll soon, and there may well be queues there.

Can't hold back progress.

[ross163103]

I see where just a few kms out of Pattaya they've started major repairs both north and south. They need more money to pay for the repairs of the shoddy first job they did. I notice most of the roads over here are too thin to start with; must be scrimping on the foundation, so inevitably the road doesn't survive very long. Or maybe.....if they don't do it right the first time it has to be done over and over which keeps the money flowing.......hmmmm

[topt]

I also noticed some weeks ago that they removed a load of 90 speed limit signs that they had put up earlier this year and there are now several new signs showing the different max speeds by vehicle type - 120 for cars.

[KittenKong]

I dont follow this. Is this toll-booths for a road that is currently free or some new road complete with toll-booths?

[rayw]

Does that mean motorbikes will no longer be able to use the motorway between Phan Thong and Pattaya?

Good valid point. I hope this is not the case.

It is really high time they adopted rules most countries use re motorbikes on motorways and allow bigger bikes over a certain engine size that can keep up with the general motorway traffic speeds. I know in the UK bigger bikes are fine on all motorways and in fact in the UK most motorbikes go faster than most cars so do not become a mobile obstruction. Sure understand the smaller bikes say under 150CC or even under 200CC should still not be allowed on these roads as they would likely be too slow and thus a danger and of course less stable than a bigger bike too particularly in stronger side winds more prevalent on open motorways.

If for instance I want to go on a nice motorbike tour on my 600cc Honda down to say Hua Hin or even all the way down to South Thailand from my home in Rayong, then it is a total pain that I cannot use the motorway infrastructure to the East and South on Bangkok and the new bridge of course. Be so much quicker, and indeed much safer than using the congested Bangkok normal road system and also I would not be adding to the city congestion either.

If any Government officials do read these pages please can they look into such a simple needed change in the law as after all there are many bigger motorbikes now in Thailand and you can see it makes perfect sense. Even maybe a special licence plate showing the rider has shown he is competent enough with maybe a higher level test and licence too.

Edited December 5, 2014 by rayw

[phetchy]

Does that mean motorbikes will no longer be able to use the motorway between Phan Thong and Pattaya?

Never seen a motorbike legally go through a tool plaza on thailand

As is the norm in Thailand, things are never crystal clear. There is a sign at the H7 slip road in Pattaya, which would suggest to the uninitiated that either motor bikes (or bicycles and lorries with trailers) aren't supposed to use the 7 motorway, or that they aren't allowed to use the slip road at this point, but can enter the H7 further along. As you might imagine, either way no one takes a blind bit of notice (as the attached shows). I live a click from the Nongprue H7 exit and can't as yet figure out what the final configuration is going to be. There are no toll booths so far on the BKK bound entrance and a couple of well known options to avoid the new toll coming off the Pattaya bound carriageway as it stands. All will be revealed I guess.

© Google earth

Edited December 5, 2014 by phetchy

[MJCM]

I dont follow this. Is this toll-booths for a road that is currently free or some new road complete with toll-booths?

It's Toll-booths for a road that is currently free.

[Anthony5]

Does that mean motorbikes will no longer be able to use the motorway between Phan Thong and Pattaya?

Never seen a motorbike legally go through a tool plaza on thailand

As is the norm in Thailand, things are never crystal clear. There is a sign at the H7 slip road in Pattaya, which would suggest to the uninitiated that either motor bikes (or bicycles and lorries with trailers) aren't supposed to use the 7 motorway, or that they aren't allowed to use the slip road at this point, but can enter the H7 further along. As you might imagine, either way no one takes a blind bit of notice (as the attached shows). I live a click from the Nongprue H7 exit and can't as yet figure out what the final configuration is going to be. There are no toll booths so far on the BKK bound entrance and a couple of well known options to avoid the new toll coming off the Pattaya bound carriageway as it stands. All will be revealed I guess.

© Google earth

The sign at the entrance you mention doesn't allow certain types of vehicles because it is a flyover, they are allowed on the highway though, they should only use the u-turn and enter from the Northside

As soon as it has become a Tollway, those vehicles will not be allowed passed the tolbooths, but as I assume that it will still be toll free between Sukhumvit and the Nongprue exit, they will still be allowed on that stretch of highway.

By now I'm still confused if there will be toll booths at the Sukhumvit entrance as well.

[joepattaya1961]

They are busy for more than 3 years now with barriers and fences as well as frontal-roads parallel to the main roads.

for more than 6 months they are building the toll-booths at the Laem Chabang intersection.

2016? lol

Let's hope it will be "take a ticket and pay later system"

Edited December 5, 2014 by joepattaya1961

[petercool]

A post with just quotes and no comments was removed. Please make a comment when quoting a post.

[NanLaew]

A post with just quotes and no comments was removed. Please make a comment when quoting a post.

For crying out loud peter, I was still in the middle of EDITING THE POST ON A SLOW INTERNET CONNECTION when you jumped in and deleted it!!!

[NanLaew]

The sign at the entrance you mention doesn't allow certain types of vehicles because it is a flyover, they are allowed on the highway though, they should only use the u-turn and enter from the Northside

As soon as it has become a Tollway, those vehicles will not be allowed passed the tolbooths, but as I assume that it will still be toll free between Sukhumvit and the Nongprue exit, they will still be allowed on that stretch of highway.

By now I'm still confused if there will be toll booths at the Sukhumvit entrance as well.

When the tollbooths on both sides at Nongprue are complete, motorbikes won't bother with using the spur from Sukhumvit as a short-cut to/from the darkside as bikes won't be allowed to pass the toll booths.

Construction as of last month looked like this. The southbound toll booth area is larger and more advanced but there is space for toll booths for the northbound lanes. Hopefully, they will leave a single 'free' tollbooth on each side for cars and trucks coming and going from the darkside but unless there's a cop sitting in it, the motorbikes will always be using it.

[Anthony5]

As it looks at current there is a Nongprue exit towards Bangkok and a Nongprue entrance towards Pattaya, both located on the stretch between Pattaya and the Tollbooths under construction, so motorbikes going to the area of Crocodile farm are still able to use the highway.

[Stuart21]

They are busy for more than 3 years now with barriers and fences as well as frontal-roads parallel to the main roads.

for more than 6 months they are building the toll-booths at the Laem Chabang intersection.

2016? lol

Let's hope it will be "take a ticket and pay later system"

Must be what these be -

[KittenKong]

I dont follow this. Is this toll-booths for a road that is currently free or some new road complete with toll-booths?

It's Toll-booths for a road that is currently free.

Oh, that's a pain.

Will this affect the cost of driving to Bangkok? I think I pay 2 x 40B at the moment, or something like that. I go via the airport.

[LennyW]

I dont follow this. Is this toll-booths for a road that is currently free or some new road complete with toll-booths?

It's Toll-booths for a road that is currently free.

Oh, that's a pain.

Will this affect the cost of driving to Bangkok? I think I pay 2 x 40B at the moment, or something like that. I go via the airport.

It has always been the plan for motorway #7 from Pattaya to Bangkok but they could not implement it until the last part into Pattaya was complete- it is classed as a motorway.

It will have an impact on the cost to the airport, don't know how much yet, but right now it is 60 baht each way which is paid once each way.

[TomYumpoochai]

And it will be a pain in the shortcut butt as ill have to go on up the suk to soi siam to get into the upper darkside area......right now a blat up the 7 saves 30 mins of congestion on a bad day.

[OMGImInPattaya]

And it will be a pain in the shortcut butt as ill have to go on up the suk to soi siam to get into the upper darkside area......right now a blat up the 7 saves 30 mins of congestion on a bad day.

But if the article is at all accurate, it's still about a year and a half away.

[MTH]

Does that mean motorbikes will no longer be able to use the motorway between Phan Thong and Pattaya?

Never seen a motorbike legally go through a tool plaza on thailand

As is the norm in Thailand, things are never crystal clear. There is a sign at the H7 slip road in Pattaya, which would suggest to the uninitiated that either motor bikes (or bicycles and lorries with trailers) aren't supposed to use the 7 motorway, or that they aren't allowed to use the slip road at this point, but can enter the H7 further along. As you might imagine, either way no one takes a blind bit of notice (as the attached shows). I live a click from the Nongprue H7 exit and can't as yet figure out what the final configuration is going to be. There are no toll booths so far on the BKK bound entrance and a couple of well known options to avoid the new toll coming off the Pattaya bound carriageway as it stands. All will be revealed I guess.

© Google earth

The sign at the entrance you mention doesn't allow certain types of vehicles because it is a flyover, they are allowed on the highway though, they should only use the u-turn and enter from the Northside

As soon as it has become a Tollway, those vehicles will not be allowed passed the tolbooths, but as I assume that it will still be toll free between Sukhumvit and the Nongprue exit, they will still be allowed on that stretch of highway.

By now I'm still confused if there will be toll booths at the Sukhumvit entrance as well.

U-turn will not help. Same type of sign at the Sukhumvit south bound entrance. You are not, and have never been allowed to drive a motorbike on this highway.

Here's a link to the southbound sign, if you want to check it out.

[NanLaew]

As it looks at current there is a Nongprue exit towards Bangkok and a Nongprue entrance towards Pattaya, both located on the stretch between Pattaya and the Tollbooths under construction, so motorbikes going to the area of Crocodile farm are still able to use the highway.

The highway will start/end at the tollbooths I reckon so I agree that motorbikes and trikes using the 'spur' to Sukhumvit will probably be enabled by having a slip lane to the feeder at the tollbooths. Since the spur is also the flyover for the railroad tracks (no crossover like SSCC, Khaonoi, etc.), I wonder why they ever bothered with the 'No Motorcycles' signage at the Sukhumvit on ramps. I would hope they make it wide enough for all sorts of vehicles with more than 2-wheels. Otherwise all those Russian and Chinese tour buses headed for the croc farm will be royally buggering up the bypasses and alternate routes.

[Anthony5]

As it looks at current there is a Nongprue exit towards Bangkok and a Nongprue entrance towards Pattaya, both located on the stretch between Pattaya and the Tollbooths under construction, so motorbikes going to the area of Crocodile farm are still able to use the highway.

The highway will start/end at the tollbooths I reckon so I agree that motorbikes and trikes using the 'spur' to Sukhumvit will probably be enabled by having a slip lane to the feeder at the tollbooths. Since the spur is also the flyover for the railroad tracks (no crossover like SSCC, Khaonoi, etc.), I wonder why they ever bothered with the 'No Motorcycles' signage at the Sukhumvit on ramps. I would hope they make it wide enough for all sorts of vehicles with more than 2-wheels. Otherwise all those Russian and Chinese tour buses headed for the croc farm will be royally buggering up the bypasses and alternate routes.

I'm talking about the Nongprue exit. The tollbooths are on the Bangkok side of the bridge under which the highway goes, the entrance and exit to the highway are on the Pattaya side of the bridge, no railway anywhere near there.

[NanLaew]

As it looks at current there is a Nongprue exit towards Bangkok and a Nongprue entrance towards Pattaya, both located on the stretch between Pattaya and the Tollbooths under construction, so motorbikes going to the area of Crocodile farm are still able to use the highway.

The highway will start/end at the tollbooths I reckon so I agree that motorbikes and trikes using the 'spur' to Sukhumvit will probably be enabled by having a slip lane to the feeder at the tollbooths. Since the spur is also the flyover for the railroad tracks (no crossover like SSCC, Khaonoi, etc.), I wonder why they ever bothered with the 'No Motorcycles' signage at the Sukhumvit on ramps. I would hope they make it wide enough for all sorts of vehicles with more than 2-wheels. Otherwise all those Russian and Chinese tour buses headed for the croc farm will be royally buggering up the bypasses and alternate routes.

I'm talking about the Nongprue exit. The tollbooths are on the Bangkok side of the bridge under which the highway goes, the entrance and exit to the highway are on the Pattaya side of the bridge, no railway anywhere near there.

Yeah I know... I am talking about the same 'Crocodile Farm' exit and new tollbooths (google earth picture posted earlier). I mentioned the railroad tracks as they don't have any ground-level crossing hence motorbikes use the overpass and spur to/from the Highway to cross over them and the next exit ramp is at the waterworks road bridge, where the toll booths will be.

Heading towards Pattaya, the existing off ramp is before (east side of) the waterworks road bridge and the on ramp to Pattaya is on the Pattaya (west) side of the bridge. I assume the off-ramp will be widened and moved east a few hundred meters and the on-ramp will be pretty much where it is, but wider by a couple of lanes. Since the existing feeders (both sides) dead-ends at the creek just beyond the bridge (actually u-turns under the motorway), they will still allow 2-wheels to use the spur since motorway rules and classification will start and end at the tollbooths. Similarly heading to Bangkok, local cars and all bikes will exit the existing but widened off-ramp which is before (west side) of the bridge with local, non-toll traffic channeled to the left. Others pay the toll and get back onto what is now Highway 7 proper.

It may actually be a bit safer for local bike riders since all the speeding buggers to/from Bangkok will have to stop and pay.

[NanLaew]

^ In hindsight and looking at the google earth map posted earlier, the toll booth on and off ramps will BOTH be on the east/Bangkok side of the bridge. That leaves the existing single on/off ramps on the west/Pattaya side of the bridge for local traffic and bikes. It looks like some compulsory purchasing needs to be done before the north-side toll plaza can be built. All they seem to have done so far is lay some new drainage.