Beach Road to be Widened - Maybe

[Gaybutton]

The following appears in PATTAYA ONE:

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Meeting Discusses Plans to Extend the Width of Pattaya Beach Road

 

On Monday afternoon at Pattaya City Hall, Khun Itipon, the Mayor of Pattaya chaired a meeting which discussed proposals to extend the width of Pattaya Beach Road, a plan which was prompted following a recent traffic survey. This initial meeting discussed the feasibility of the plan and what effects it would have on beach road businesses if the plan came to fruition.

 

The plans indicate that the entire 3km stretch of Pattaya Beach Road which finishes at the entrance to Walking Street suffers from acute traffic congestion problems and an 18 meter extension to the width of the road has been proposed which will allow for up to two more lanes of traffic and may allow the road to become two way in the future.

 

Discussions are in an early stage and further meetings are expected in the coming months.

[Guest Astrrro]

I sure hope they don't intrude on the pedestrian walkway on the beach side.

 

The problem is the traffic light at Pattaya Tai and 2nd Road. An overpass so that cars don't have to stop at that light would be more effective than a lane widening.

[Guest gay_grampa]

Getting the Baht Buses to stop kerb crawling would alieviate the problem - for sure.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Maybe they should consider finishing Thappaya Road before they start another project. It's only into its third year of construction.

[Guest jtrack33]

While on the subject of road projects, could someone kindly advise me (a non-resident of Pattaya) of the purpose of the partial flyover that has appeared in the central divide of Sukumvit Road between Pattaya North and Pattaya Central road junctions. It currently ends up facing away from Pattaya and about to pounce on some houses on the east of Sukumvit.

 

[Gaybutton]

could someone kindly advise me (a non-resident of Pattaya) of the purpose of the partial flyover

I was hoping a non-resident could advise us residents. So far, as a resident I have no clue. I can guess, but that doesn't mean much. The only thing that makes any sense to me is that it will eventually be a connector to the Rt. 7 expressway to Bangkok. If it is to be something else, then I can't imagine what.

 

I'm visualizing ten years from now: That flyover has been open for a month. The work on Thappraya Road is nearing completion. The city has decided to do something about the potholes on all the secondary streets. And plans for removing all the overhead wires and placing them all underground have been finalized and approved for two weeks. The work will begin in six months.

 

Don't worry, though. I believe the powers-that-be have decided to speed up the works. I'm sure I read somewhere that they want to try to catch up to and keep pace with the speed of continental drift.

[mahjongguy]

As you suspected, the flyover connects to an express route to the motorway out by the Regents School. That route is nearly finished. It is only the one property on the east side of Sukhumvit that is holding up the project. Presumably, someone is holding out for top dollar, but I think someday soon that small cluster of shophouses will disappear overnight.

 

This express connection will be welcome but it doesn't seem to me that it will cut too many minutes from the drive. So many other more worthwhile road projects.

 

As for Pattaya Beach Road, there's no way to gain 18m of width. On one side there's a sidewalk that's barely a meter; on the other side the water itself is barely 18m away. And it's nuts to think that they could demolish 3 kilometers of shophouses.

 

The solution will have to be a mix of things, none of which will line the pockets of developers. Get the songteows under control, never ever let the gardeners or the trash guys block the beach-side lanes, open up a soi in each direction somewhere around soi 13 for quicker access to / escape from the Beach Road.

 

 

[Guest jtrack33]

As you suspected, the flyover connects to an express route to the motorway out by the Regents School.

 

Oh, yes, that is so right! I just looked on Google Earth and there it is/was (whatever the date of the last satellite is) partially completed and even asphalted in some places. It clearly is the extension of the expressway to nowhere past the Regent's School.

[Guest Astrrro]

The solution to the Beach road traffic problem is the following changes at 2nd Road and Pattaya Tai.

 

1) under/overpass for continuing straight on Pattaya Tai going away from the beach

 

2) under/ overpass for turning towards Jomtien off of Pattaya Tai headed away from the beach

 

3) under/over pass for traffic making a right turn onto Pattaya Tai.

 

4) pedestrian under/over pass connecting all four corners.

 

5) constant green for everyone else.

 

I'm sure this is not cheap but must be much cheaper and of more social value than widening Beach Road.

[Gaybutton]

I'm sure this is not cheap but must be much cheaper and of more social value than widening Beach Road.

That's precisely why they'll never do it that way. I'll be surprised if they ever do anything at all, other than talk about it. If it goes as usual, they'll hire some fly-by-night contractor to do the work, and then there will come the inevitable excuses as to why it's taking so long. The work will stop for months on end and will resume right in the middle of high season. Of course, rather than solve problems, they're more likely to create a nightmare.

 

Don't you love my positive attitude?

[Guest]

Utter madness.

 

Pattaya lives off tourism & they want a 4-lane highway between the town & the beach?

Well that's one way to cut down tourist numbers even further.

 

It would make more sense to pedestrianise the whole drag.

 

For anyone who lives in Pattaya, it must be worth a few letters of objection.

 

 

 

 

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Utter madness.

 

Pattaya lives off tourism & they want a 4-lane highway between the town & the beach?

Well that's one way to cut down tourist numbers even further.

 

It would make more sense to pedestrianise the whole drag.

 

For anyone who lives in Pattaya, it must be worth a few letters of objection.

Do you mean to say that people should walk from S. Pattaya to Jomtien Beach rather than having a 4 lane road to move traffic faster??

[Guest Astrrro]

I think he means a 4 laner between Pattaya and Pattaya Beach is bad news,

 

Anyone remember Westway?

[Gaybutton]

The article is talking about widening Beach Road. That's the road along the beach that stretches from North Road (Pattaya Nua) to Walking Street.

 

What Pattaya, in its infinite wisdom, is doing along Thappraya Road, the road that goes from the city to Jomtien Beach, is widening it, but also putting in a median strip. Meanwhile there are shops, restaurants, hotels, etc, on each side of the road along nearly the entire stretch. So, what do you think is going to happen? Cars trying to get from one side of the road to the other will no longer be able to simply make the turn. They'll have to find a place to make a U-turn. Unless someone knows something I don't, I see that causing major bottlenecks and traffic backups, worse than the situation already is.

[PattayaMale]

One thing that would cost very little money compared widening the road by 18m would be to not allow any parking on Beach Road. Most of the parking is from bike rentals anyway. Just have a service road for delivery trucks and limit delivery time to say 11 pm - 10 am. Close the road to all traffic at all other times. Run electric trams (Like they have in Disneyland) in a loop Increase the width of the side walk on the east side. Close off all the small sois so none open onto Beach road. Allow motorcycle parking only on the small sois (no baht bus, cars or trucks). Charge 10 baht parking for the motor bikes to pay for the attendants at the 2nd road entrances to the small sois.

 

Make 2nd road 2 way and eliminate all parking. Build two parking structures and get agreements with the malls and hotels to allow public parking for a fee of 50 baht. The corner of South Pattaya and 2nd Road would then be a T intersection since the small portion of South Pattaya Road would be closed during the day. This allows traffic going south on Second Road to always make a continuous left turn. Northbound traffic continuous straight thru. Traffic going west on South Pattaya to continue to make continuous left turn. The light would turn green only for a right tun from South Pattaya northbound to 2nd road and Northbound 2nd road to east bound onto South Pattaya.

 

There. Problem solved!

 

 

[Gaybutton]

There. Problem solved!

Congratulations. You've definitely convinced me. Now all you have to do is convince the powers-that-be.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Can you imagine Sukhumvit without a median? I think the median on Thrappaya Rd. will not cause problems, but rather, it will eliminate them.

[Gaybutton]

Can you imagine Sukhumvit without a median? I think the median on Thrappaya Rd. will not cause problems, but rather, it will eliminate them.

I hope you're right.

[Guest]

The article is talking about widening Beach Road. That's the road along the beach that stretches from North Road (Pattaya Nua) to Walking Street.

 

 

If you check on Google maps, Pattaya Beach Road is the one called Patthaya Sai 1 on the Pattaya map.

This is what some of us believe the original article refers to, as that is the road commonly referred to as Pattaya Beach Road (for obvious reasons).

 

Although I do think the Pattaya planners would have to be COMPLETELY OUT OF THEIR MINDS to put a 4 lane highway between the town & the beach in what is a beach resort. They cannot be serious? Why not squeeze in an oil refinery too & completely bugger up the tourism sector?

 

There are better ways of handling this, none of which involve putting more traffic & faster traffic next to the beach.

 

 

Improving the road to Jomtien beach is a completely different matter, possibly even quite sensible.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

If you check on Google maps, Pattaya Beach Road is the one called Patthaya Sai 1 on the Pattaya map.

This is what some of us believe the original article refers to, as that is the road commonly referred to as Pattaya Beach Road (for obvious reasons).

 

Although I do think the Pattaya planners would have to be COMPLETELY OUT OF THEIR MINDS to put a 4 lane highway between the town & the beach in what is a beach resort. They cannot be serious? Why not squeeze in an oil refinery too & completely bugger up the tourism sector?

 

There are better ways of handling this, none of which involve putting more traffic & faster traffic next to the beach.

Improving the road to Jomtien beach is a completely different matter, possibly even quite sensible.

So, you were referring to Beach Road becoming a pedestrian walkway? That is a whole different matter. I, mistakenly, thought you were talking about the road leading from town to the beach, not between town and the beach.

[Bob]

Although I may be nuts, Beach Road is the name which has always been referred to the road along the beach and which turns into "Walking Street."

[Gaybutton]

Although I may be nuts, Beach Road is the name which has always been referred to the road along the beach and which turns into "Walking Street."

While I'm sure we can certainly concede that you're nuts, what you say is correct. Google has its system and Pattaya has its own.

[Guest]

Now are we going to return to discuss the original topic of a 4-lane highway, between Pattaya & Pattaya beach, or carry on debating the confusion?

 

If they put a 4-lane road down there, I doubt there would be much beach left.

[Bob]

Well, don't forget that a "Thai" 4-lane road is what, 20 feet wide?

[Guest lvdkeyes]

Well, don't forget that a "Thai" 4-lane road is what, 20 feet wide?

I think the new Thrappaya 4 lane road is much wider than 20 feet.