Fire under Thai-Belgian flyover causes traffic snarl on Rama IV road

[webfact]

Fire under Thai-Belgian flyover causes traffic snarl on Rama IV road
By The Nation

 

Photo credit: Rescuer with call sign of Shinket 26

 

BANGKOK: -- Garbage bins stored under the Thai-Belgian flyover near the Lumpini Park caught fire Tuesday morning, resulting in traffic snarl on the Rama IV road and nearby streets.

 

The fire started at 7:06 am and fire fighters from the Bonkai fire station rushed to the scene.

 

The blaze and huge column of black smoke could be seen far from the spot.

 

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/breakingnews/30307458

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-02-28

[webfact]

Thai-Belgian bridge fire turns traffic in capital a complete chaos

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Traffic in Bangkok turned a complete chaos after a small fire broke out beneath the Thai-Belgian bridge on Rama 4 during rush hour this morning.

 

The fire incident incredibly caused traffic jams on several inbound and outbound roads, expressways and motorways after the bridge was closed to traffic.

 

The shutdown of the Thai-Belgian flyover caused a wide chain reaction with traffic snarls on expressways and motorways heading into Bangkok’s inner zone.

 

By late this morning, traffic jams are reported in many areas, including Silom, Rama 4, Ratchadapisek, Phetburi, Sukhumvit, Phaholyothin, and Vibhavadee.

 

The fire started at about 7.00am at the Thai-Belgian bridge where a large number of plastic garbage bins were stored beneath the bridge and raged quickly.

 

Several fire trucks arrived and started spraying water to distinguish the flames.

 

Traffic police shut down the bridge as the rising flame could pose danger to passing vehicles overhead.

The fire took firemen almost two hours to completely control it.

 

However traffic on the bridge remains shut as city authorities were concerned of the safety of the bridge structural beams and flooring after they came under the heat if the fire for hours.

 

The actual cause of the fire was not yet known but authorities suspected it might be started by vagabond who used space beneath the bridge as home to shelter.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/thai-belgian-bridge-fire-turns-traffic-capital-complete-chaos/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-02-28

[slapout]

Wonder what material they would call garbage that it would be stored close to a roadway and appears to have been very flammable?  Maybe someone has a side business of picking up the old cooking oil that the vendors have got the goody out of.

[webfact]

Thai-Belgian Flyover ‘indefinitely closed’ following this morning’s fire

By Coconuts Bangkok 

 

Photos: Ruamkatanyu Foundation

 

BANGKOK: -- The Thai-Belgian Flyover near Lumpini Park has been declared “indefinitely closed,” after garbage bins stored under it caught on fire this morning.

 

The fire, which started around 7am, prompted the authorities to shut down the bridge and motorists were told to use the Rama IV Road below, worsening the traffic during rush hours.

 

The blaze was put out by 8:15am.

 

Full story: https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/thai-belgian-flyover-indefinitely-closed-following-mornings-fire/

 

-- © Copyright Coconuts Bangkok 2017-02-28

[MJKT2014]

1 hour ago, slapout said:

Wonder what material they would call garbage that it would be stored close to a roadway and appears to have been very flammable? 

Why are they storing anything under a bridge like this? Now the bridge is closed it added 3 hours to our commute in this morning with gridlock traffic. Someone seems to have decided it was OK to store hundreds of fairly new green city plastic garbage collection bins there, now gone up in flames. There seems to be a dip in the road on the bridge now near the fire, so the closed bridge and traffic chaos is going on indefinitely? Since they only took ONE day to erect the bridge new back in the 90's, what's the betting it will take longer to fix this fiasco one wonders? 

[BKKMG]

1 hour ago, MJKT2014 said:

Why are they storing anything under a bridge like this? Now the bridge is closed it added 3 hours to our commute in this morning with gridlock traffic. Someone seems to have decided it was OK to store hundreds of fairly new green city plastic garbage collection bins there, now gone up in flames. There seems to be a dip in the road on the bridge now near the fire, so the closed bridge and traffic chaos is going on indefinitely? Since they only took ONE day to erect the bridge new back in the 90's, what's the betting it will take longer to fix this fiasco one wonders? 

There were people living under that bridge with all the garbage that goes with it. From that you can draw your own conclusions...

[claffey]

I always noticed hundreds of green plastic bins there when turning right onto Sathorn. Not the best place to store something! Of course the fault will lie with the homeless person who set it alight and not with the people who decided to store them there in a public place!

[webfact]

Thai-Belgian flyover to close 45 days

 

 

BANGKOK: -- Thai-Belgian flyover will be closed to traffic 45 days for repair, Metropolitan Police Bureau commissioner Pol Lt Gen Sanit Mahathavorn said today.

 

He disclosed of the long closure of the bridge after joining the team of engineers from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to inspect the damage caused to the bridge by the fire this morning.

 

He said inspection of three steel structures of the bridge were deformed from the heat of the fire and were therefore unsafe for use.

 

The flooring of the bridge was also damaged, he said.

 

It was agreed that the bridge would now closed  to repair for 45 days.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/thai-belgian-flyover-close-45-days/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-02-28

[wirat69]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

be started by vagabond who used space beneath the bridge as home to shelter

Right across the road from The Thai Red Cross Society!!! ...They don't want to know!!!!

[shady86]

Disaster as I'm frequent user of Rama IV rd.

[wreckingcountry]

Fact is there's often piles of rubbish under bridges, elevated expressways and nothing is done to remove or prevent . Ah the Thai way!


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[MJKT2014]

.

17 minutes ago, wreckingcountry said:

Fact is there's often piles of rubbish under bridges, elevated expressways and nothing is done to remove or prevent . Ah the Thai way!

This is more the reason, not as the BPost says some careless driver throwing a cigarette from a vehicle. Cigarettes are always a risk, but the city allowed plastic containers and rubbish to collect under the bridge with an open area above between the two bridge carriageways for stuff to fall in from. The area was gated off at ground level, so unlikely to have people sleeping rough there to blame. Really annoyed about this as Rama4 is used by us daily and today was a lost day. Blocking right turn traffic below as planned by city will help a little but the bottleneck of several lanes of Rama4 traffic to narrower lanes to pass the bridge will cause huge backups.

[BobTH]

I was in Lumpini Park doing my daily morning walk and took this picture. It was on the end of the Park near Wireless Road, not the other end near Silom Road.

[Enoon]

 

the city geek — brussels to bangkok, story of a bridge

 

 

 

[Pib]

A lot of flyover bridges in Bangkok are used by city govt agencies to park vehicles, storage, small work offices, etc.   

[mike324]

Saphan Taksin has a big hazard as well, lots of garbage trucks and trash underneath it as well on the other side of the river.

[Pib]

Saphan Taksin has a big hazard as well, lots of garbage trucks and trash underneath it as well on the other side of the river.

Yeap...I drive over that bridge about once a week...it's a base station for city garbage trucks.

[BobTH]

Update, March 2nd this morning at 6:00-7:00 AM, they were letting cars use the Thai-Belgium cross over bridge on Rama 4 Road but only going west bound, or the side coming from Klong Toey and heading towards Silom Road. The other side remains closed. I saw it this morning walking to Lumpini Park to exercise.

[BobTH]

1 hour ago, BobTH said:

Update, March 2nd this morning at 6:00-7:00 AM, they were letting cars use the Thai-Belgium cross over bridge on Rama 4 Road but only going west bound, or the side coming from Klong Toey and heading towards Silom Road. The other side remains closed. I saw it this morning walking to Lumpini Park to exercise.

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30307663

 

[BobTH]

On 3/2/2017 at 9:26 AM, BobTH said:

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30307663

 

 

Update 7 AM Monday March 6, this morning the Thai-Belgium cross over bridge on Rama 4 Road is open in both directions, this is the first day there has been traffic on the east-bound side or the side going toward Klong Toey.

[MJKT2014]

2 hours ago, BobTH said:

 

Update 7 AM Monday March 6, this morning the Thai-Belgium cross over bridge on Rama 4 Road is open in both directions, this is the first day there has been traffic on the east-bound side or the side going toward Klong Toey.

 So it's fixed already? What happened to the 45 days to repair plan?

[BobTH]

2 hours ago, MJKT2014 said:

 So it's fixed already? What happened to the 45 days to repair plan?

There were still some pylons and a couple of policemen standing around and also a news crew was filming when I walked by returning from my morning walk at Lumpini Park. I do not know the status of the bridge, if it is repaired or not. Maybe engineers have determined that it is safe to hold traffic during the repair period.  

[Pib]

Last week there was a news story that they planned to open 1 of the 2 lanes on the damaged side today/Monday if certain safety checks panned out...they must have panned out. So I expect 3 of 4 lanes are now open. Both lanes on one side and 1 of 2 lanes on the damaged side.

[BobTH]

This Atlanta USA fire has a lot in common with the one on Thai Belgium Bridge in late February 2017.

 

 https://www.yahoo.com/gma/atlanta-residents-may-face-travel-nightmare-highway-bridge-190618940--abc-news-topstories.html

Edited April 1, 2017 by BobTH