Chalong Circle Underpass

[Badrabbit]

I live very close to it all!

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[Badrabbit]

Do you live south of the circle or close to it at all?

I live very close to it all and I sometimes have a moan but mostly just accept it's happening and get on with It!

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[steelepulse]

3 hours ago, Badrabbit said:

I live very close to it all and I sometimes have a moan but mostly just accept it's happening and get on with It!

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So you do live south of the circle and have to plan your day around when it will take less then 30 minutes to go through the circle, or do you live south of the circle and just accept sitting in traffic for 45 minutes isn't an issue?  Big difference between being close to being south and actually being south of the circle.

[Badrabbit]

So you do live south of the circle and have to plan your day around when it will take less then 30 minutes to go through the circle, or do you live south of the circle and just accept sitting in traffic for 45 minutes isn't an issue?  Big difference between being close to being south and actually being south of the circle.

I have a motorbike so no problem.

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[steelepulse]

A motorbike helps, although I can't say it's the option I choose to take due to quality of drivers, riders and roads here.

[Badrabbit]

A motorbike helps, although I can't say it's the option I choose to take due to quality of drivers, riders and roads here.

Agree, been riding bikes here for over 8 yrs with no problems but yes it's a dangerous place if you don't concentrate.

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[Old Croc]

Motorbike riders and passengers account for 73% of road deaths in Thailand. That's about 15,000 squished people every year.

 

No matter how good a rider you may be, It's still a lottery out there.

You do have a chance of surviving long term in a car, unless you cross paths with one of those murderer, concrete truck drivers.

[beechbum]

2 hours ago, Badrabbit said:

been riding bikes here for over 8 yrs with no problems 

I go to extremes to never ever make the above statement

[LivinginKata]

3 hours ago, Badrabbit said:

Agree, been riding bikes here for over 8 yrs with no problems but yes it's a dangerous place if you don't concentrate.
 

 

I rode a bike for 10 years. 12 years ago I decided the roads were becoming dangerous and switched to car only driving. 12 years ago there were none of these large coaches, only lunatic minibuses rushing about. And the ubiquitous speeding cement trucks.

[Badrabbit]

 
I rode a bike for 10 years. 12 years ago I decided the roads were becoming dangerous and switched to car only driving. 12 years ago there were none of these large coaches, only lunatic minibuses rushing about. And the ubiquitous speeding cement trucks.

We all do what we enjoy the most, stay out of the way of the lunatics and drive sensibly, loved the last 8 yrs driving here and I've been on some big road trips again with no problems, who knows what tomorrow could bring!

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[Jimi007]

1 hour ago, Badrabbit said:

We all do what we enjoy the most, stay out of the way of the lunatics and drive sensibly, loved the last 8 yrs driving here and I've been on some big road trips again with no problems, who knows what tomorrow could bring!

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Just curious, do you own a car or truck, or only a motorbike? 

[Badrabbit]

Just a bike.

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[RedCardinal]

Today saw that the buildings on the Rawai > Kata corner of circle are being demolished, so hopefully indicates they've purchased the land there needed to fit tunnel through.  Crazy to think that up to now they may not have acquired all the land for this underpass to be completed.

[LivinginKata]

1 hour ago, RedCardinal said:

Today saw that the buildings on the Rawai > Kata corner of circle are being demolished, so hopefully indicates they've purchased the land there needed to fit tunnel through.  Crazy to think that up to now they may not have acquired all the land for this underpass to be completed.

 

Yet there is new multi floor building being built on the back side of those being demolished - now that is crazy ...

[Valentine]

Took 25 minutes from Chao Fa West to get through the circle this morning. I have seen longer line ups. There does not seem to be any method to the construction, they seem to lack leadership. At times I think they are just moving dirt from one place to another.

[madmitch]

The traffic is definitely getting worse. The problem is there are no relief roads apart from Chaofa West to Patak Road, and even these are backing up further than previously. It's even affecting Kata with many more cars using the back roads to avoid the Circle.

 

I still worry what's going to happen when they actually start digging, but there still seems to be no sign of this. 

[Valentine]

1 hour ago, madmitch said:

The traffic is definitely getting worse. The problem is there are no relief roads apart from Chaofa West to Patak Road, and even these are backing up further than previously. It's even affecting Kata with many more cars using the back roads to avoid the Circle.

 

I still worry what's going to happen when they actually start digging, but there still seems to be no sign of this. 

The other day that "shortcut" was backed up from Patak almost to Chao Fa West.

[LivinginKata]

The so called short cut is now a disaster. I very rarely venture down that way. I choose a Saturday or Sunday to pay our 3BB bills at office opposite the BiB station. Might venture into HomePro Village. if I really need something from HomePro or Banana or Villa.  It's been months since I shopped at Villa. I make do with Makro and Lotus in Kata.  They are Ok for the basics but not the exotics .... oh well.  

[stevenl]

4 hours ago, LivinginKata said:

The so called short cut is now a disaster. I very rarely venture down that way. I choose a Saturday or Sunday to pay our 3BB bills at office opposite the BiB station. Might venture into HomePro Village. if I really need something from HomePro or Banana or Villa.  It's been months since I shopped at Villa. I make do with Makro and Lotus in Kata.  They are Ok for the basics but not the exotics .... oh well.  

For villa etc I take the bike. But I go through the circle daily, quite often multiple times. As long as you're able to pick times it is ok. And coming from Kata rarely any issues, and to villa from Kata even less.

[LivinginKata]

1 hour ago, stevenl said:

For villa etc I take the bike. But I go through the circle daily, quite often multiple times. As long as you're able to pick times it is ok. And coming from Kata rarely any issues, and to villa from Kata even less.

 

Timing is the key. Recently I needed to nip into HomePro for house bits and the traffic on Patak from Kata has been backed up to the Green Man. That was 15.00. Now need to be 11.00 - 13.00 before I think about it.

[stevenl]

14 minutes ago, LivinginKata said:

 

Timing is the key. Recently I needed to nip into HomePro for house bits and the traffic on Patak from Kata has been backed up to the Green Man. That was 15.00. Now need to be 11.00 - 13.00 before I think about it.

That would be an exception. I am often there leaving Kata 17.15 hours, traffic usually backed up till Shell, takes about 10 minutes to reach the circle, far less to reach the turn to villa.

[madmitch]

2 hours ago, stevenl said:

That would be an exception. I am often there leaving Kata 17.15 hours, traffic usually backed up till Shell, takes about 10 minutes to reach the circle, far less to reach the turn to villa.

Last Monday around 5:45 backed up almost to Chalong Chalet Resort. Worst I've seen.

[dick dasterdly]

It's taken a while to 'arrive', but the traffic around Chalong circle is now what I expected to happen a long time ago.  Presumably it's the slow pace of work that has resulted in it happening later than expected....

 

The worst part (IMO), is that nearly everyone approaching the circle is driving more badly - in anticipation of the problem ahead ? 

 

I avoid Chalong circle like the plague nowadays, and dread the few occasions when it cannot be avoided.  I've no doubt the HomePro/Villamart complex has lost a huge amount of business, as have other businesses that require crossing the roundabout.

[Tapster]

 

We came back to Rawai in early January, having had a month away.

 

We were passing the circle at approx 5:30pm, going south. We couldn't believe how much worse it had become!

 

Chao Fa East wasn't too bad but we couldn't believe the queue on Viset Road going towards the circle..................it was tailing back to the lights at Soi Sai Yuan!

 

I've only driven past the circle once since then, at about `11:30am on Friday. There was no queue at all until the actual road works. However, it was very slow from there, moving towards the circle.

 

I sympathise very much with those who have to commute in the rush hour.

 

 

 

[dick dasterdly]

Just now, Tapster said:

 

We came back to Rawai in early January, having had a month away.

 

We were passing the circle at approx 5:30pm, going south. We couldn't believe how much worse it had become!

 

Chao Fa East wasn't too bad but we couldn't believe the queue on Viset Road going towards the circle..................it was tailing back to the lights at Soi Sai Yuan!

 

I've only driven past the circle once since then, at about `11:30am on Friday. There was no queue at all until the actual road works. However, it was very slow from there, moving towards the circle.

 

I sympathise very much with those who have to commute in the rush hour.

 

 

 

Chao Fa East is nowadays almost as bad as Viset road.

[LivinginKata]

28 minutes ago, dick dasterdly said:

Chao Fa East is nowadays almost as bad as Viset road.

 

But is nowhere near as bad as ChaoFa West. For the past few months I come back from Phuket Town by the East road. It does not flow as fast as the West road but not so much delay at the circle.

[Old Croc]

A short time ago my GF witnessed a young foreign couple on a bike come to grief near Home Pro. Apparently they tried to go around a bus, but caught the wall protecting the earthworks, the bike spun around and went under the wheels of the bus. Fortunately the couple didn't end up underneath, and seemed uninjured, They retrieved the bike from under the bus.

[dick dasterdly]

15 hours ago, LivinginKata said:

 

But is nowhere near as bad as ChaoFa West. For the past few months I come back from Phuket Town by the East road. It does not flow as fast as the West road but not so much delay at the circle.

Sorry, yes - I meant Chaofa West!

[RedCardinal]

On 1/20/2018 at 9:47 AM, madmitch said:

I still worry what's going to happen when they actually start digging, but there still seems to be no sign of this. 

In fairness, the digging has started either side of the circle. They first dig trenches to construct the retaining walls, then set the concrete roof of the tunnel across the retaining walls, excavate the ground under the roof, and finally lay the internal tunnel road and install cladding, electrics etc. They've cast about 20-30% of the tunnel roof on Wiset Road, but not seen any roof cast on Chaofa West yet.  The real problem seems to be lack of coordination - they didn't procure the land early enough, and it's easy to see the various problem points that have held things up (klong next to police houses on Chaofa West, drains near Supercheap).  

 

If anything I think the pace has picked up in last 6-8 weeks, but the big problem is when they have to excavate/build through the actual circle. My guess is that all traffic crossing east-west on the roundabout will need to travel up or down Wiset/Chaofa West, and do u-turns. Going from Chaofa East to Patak, or vice-versa, probably wont be possible without turning onto Wiset or Chaofa West. That's when the real misery will begin.  What we're seeing now is nowt compared to what's in store...

 

My guess is another 2 years of this minimum

[Tapster]

@RedCardinal

 

I can see how it's easier to pour the roof of the tunnel onto the ground, before excavating. However it seems that excavating once the roof is on must be way more difficult than just digging down to make a big trench.

 

Is putting the roof on afterwards so much more difficult than doing it before excavating? I know nothing about civil engineering!

 

Buuuut.....in the area of the circle it will help a lot to have the roof on first - minimum disruption to traffic.