Phuket underpass damaged, roadway cracked

[webfact]

Breaking News: Phuket underpass damaged, roadway cracked
Phuket Gazette


The southbound of the bypass road along the Samkong Underpass was severely damaged during the rain last night. Photo: Phuket City Police

PHUKET: -- Heavy rains last night left a section of road running abreast the troubled Samkong Underpass, as well as one of its walls, heavily damaged.

“Traffic police and rescue workers were on site last night until about 2am to help with the traffic congestion caused by the damaged road,” Lt Col Rungrit Rattanapagdee of the Phuket City Traffic Police told the Phuket Gazette this morning.

“We closed the road, but then had to open it up for just a couple of hours this morning due to traffic levels. Nonetheless, it now needs to be closed for safety reasons.”

The project engineer from the Department of Highways, Chalermpol Wongkiattikun, explained to the Gazette that they were still assessing the extent of the damage and the steps that need to be taken to fix it.

Meanwhile, traffic police have asked motorists to avoid the southbound lane of traffic along the construction site.

Full story: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Breaking-News-Phuket-underpass-damaged-roadway-cracked/63006?desktopversion#ad-image-0

-- Phuket Gazette 2016-01-29

[Guest]

What a mess that whole project has been. Maybe in year 2017, the hole will be filled and overpass is planned to replace the underpass.

Upside: Phuket will gain a new saying. "This project is doing as well as Samkong underpass."

Edited January 29, 2016 by Guest

[LivinginKata]

Just another day in paradise ...

[Old Croc]

Pesky rain!

[craigt3365]

Probably the same is going to happen to the one they are trying to build here in Pattaya. What a mess it is right now. Traffic is absolutely terrible.

[colinneil]

Poor workmanship, substandard materials.

Well they had to find the money for all the kickbacks/ brown envelopes.

[NCC1701A]

lets cut them some slack.

who knew it was going to rain?

[keeniau96]

The underpass at the Central intersection was completed with some delay and with problems with the pumps but seems to be OK now. That one is on the same road but about one km from the Samkong disaster area. The other major underpass project at the Bypass-Tepkasettri intersection (huge traffic intersection) seems to be progressing fairly well. Both of those are by Ital-Thai company but the Samkong one is another contractor. There is another major underpass project at the Chalong circle but that one is just getting started and seems to be very confused re the design, budget and actual construction. The island residents have been subject to very difficult road traffic conditions for several years now and no end in sight.

[Moonsterk]

lets cut them some slack.

who knew it was going to rain?

I get your sarcasm but the past three winters I've been here there was no rain at all. Last night was really like a summer blow out I've seen on US east coast- poured for hours lightening and all- halfway expected a tornado or two to have been reported.

[NCC1701A]

lets cut them some slack.

who knew it was going to rain?

I get your sarcasm but the past three winters I've been here there was no rain at all. Last night was really like a summer blow out I've seen on US east coast- poured for hours lightening and all- halfway expected a tornado or two to have been reported.

well i actually feel bad for Thai people. who knows what the truth of this story is? corruption? poor engineering? poor planning? freak weather? most likely all four.

sometimes easier to vent my disappointment as sarcasm.

[exbikey]

The underpass at the Central intersection was completed with some delay and with problems with the pumps but seems to be OK now. That one is on the same road but about one km from the Samkong disaster area. The other major underpass project at the Bypass-Tepkasettri intersection (huge traffic intersection) seems to be progressing fairly well. Both of those are by Ital-Thai company but the Samkong one is another contractor. There is another major underpass project at the Chalong circle but that one is just getting started and seems to be very confused re the design, budget and actual construction. The island residents have been subject to very difficult road traffic conditions for several years now and no end in sight.

I don't know how the Central underpass coped with the rain during the night. This morning traffic appeared to be ok. I've also noticed that they've (ItalThai?) final got round to digging out the badly laid manhole/drainage covers on the southbound slip road alongside Homeworks. Hopefully when the covers are reset they'll be flush with the rest of the road, I won't be holding my breath on this one though, I've never seen so many badly laid manhole/road drainage covers as I've seen here on our paradise island.

[useronthenet]

All of this is all good and well, but have these changes improved the traffic problem in Phuket?

[bdenner]

Poor workmanship, substandard materials.

Well they had to find the money for all the kickbacks/ brown envelopes.

AND NEVER let Thais try to Engineer ANYTHING. I know from personal experience within the Oil and Gas Industry here in Thailand they just can't cut it!

[Somtamnication]

I know for a fact that the Burmese did a rain dance earlier that afternoon!

[WhizBang]

And once again, the true cost of corrution in Thailand is seen.

[Phuket Stan]

All of this is all good and well, but have these changes improved the traffic problem in Phuket?

Only about 200% worse.....the magic rebate on tax when u bought a car 3-4 years ago has worked wonders at overloading the roads

Took me 1.5 hours to come from airport to Patong 2 weeks ago

Fun Fun Fun

[NamKangMan]

And once again, the true cost of corrution in Thailand is seen.

Correct.

Just look at the standard of the roads in Thailand's wealthiest province.

It's a disgrace.