Road to Pattaya â?? what a shambles!

[Palatkik]

It was with somewhat disbelieve we waited and waited for the Bangkok-Cholburi motorway intersection bridge at Laem Chanbang to be rebuilt after being pulled down for reasons best known to those in charge a few years ago. Why it took two years (was it?) to rebuild what wasnâ??t already broken into a bridge now no better than its predecessor is a mystery to us? Actually finding anyone working on the project that was blocking the main road link between Pattaya and Bangkok on a given day was pot luck.

 

Now the Laem Chabang bridge fiasco is complete(?) just a few kilometers further south we see all six lanes of the Bangkok-Cholburi motorway blocked in several locations by monstrous concrete blocks that look like bridges being built? Why are they destroying the only six lane motorway to Pattaya and Rayong with these constructions one wonders? Itâ??s not as if there are any infrastructural facilities either side of the motorway to bridge at these locations? I asked my Thai partner wtf was going on and why the roads were in such bad shape and she just shrugged it off with a â??corruption honey!â? response. I guess Iâ??ll have to upgrade the sedan to an off road SUV soon to save my sore arse and hope the new road works take no longer than the aforementioned bridge though I suspect the two projects are related?

 

[Mekong]

Ahh My pet peeve, as you can see by my locations I am up and down that route every week.

 

The Laem Chabang Flyover fiasco is a lot better now than it was 8 months ago when it first started, you want to try coming through there at 7:40 AM and 5PM rush hour everyday. If you are coming from BKK to Pattaya you are better staying on Route 7 up to Regents School rather then down to Laem Chabang.

 

As for Route 7 there is a Bridge being built 2 km South of where BKK-Chonburi Motorway Joins it, another one about 5-6 km further on, the Major Headache one at the top of the hill coming up to Pin Thong Industrial estate / LC Turn off, and another 2 between there and Regents.

 

Chonburi bypass is bearable now, what used to be 30 mins for 10 km can now be done in less than 10 mins.

 

Over the past year I have probably spent 40 mins a day mon-fri sat in roadworks, 200 minutes a week ... thats over 170 hours / year over one full week 24/7 sat in fuxin roadworks.

 

As for the reasoning why, Laem Chabang deep sea port is taking over from BKK Port and as such the amount of freight traffic between ESB and BKK is rising, as it is (was) the roads just cant handle that volume of traffic, but hopefully before the end of 2007 it will be minimum of 3 lane highway all the way from ESB to BKK.

 

If and when it happens I may consider commuting from Home to work rather than staying over midweek, its only 110 KM (65 Miles) and I am sure many people commute that daily in the west on decent roads, Tuesday morning with it being a bank holiday it took me less than an hour and thats with the roadworks.

 

 

Oh Yes I do drive an off road SUV I would have killed a sedan in less than a year.

[ThaiHome]

Just made my weekly trip to Sri Racha (TOP) this morning, leaving BKK 7:00 AM. We take the Chonburi bypass down, which is improving as they finish the widening. 80 minutes door to door.

Left to go back to BKK at 11:00. BKK-Chonburi motorway and on into Bangkok (Ladphro), 90 minutes. The roads suck right now, but in year (my estimate) or so when they finish the whole project it is going to be great. Will be very close to a 1 hour trip I think, as you say daily commuting may be an option.

They are indeed building overpasses on the section (which is already 3-4 lanes each side) between Laem Chaebang and the Pattaya turnoff at hiway 36. Again this will be good as it will cut down on the side traffic and turn this into as much of a limited access expressway as you get here.

My worry on the whole project is as is the case with many road construction projects, by the time they are finished they are at full design capacity from day one. This seems to have happened with every road project that was ever done in Southern California for the last 50 years.

TH

 

[Mekong]

I was talking with a couple of guys in the office today about ESB road projects and if the plans come off it will make a huge improvement.

 

Laem Chabang Flyover Scheduled to be finished by End of March (I'll believe it when I see it)

 

Highway 7 to be extended from where it ends now (Highway 36 at Regents) all the way through to Sattahip, basically following the train lines.

 

A new road from Highway 7 extension to Sukhumvit between Pattaya Klaeng and Nua.

 

Roads being over capacity from day one is not a problem unique to SoCal, it happens all over the world