Bang Khu Underpass opens temporarily as ‘New Year gift’ to Phuket

PHUKET: The Bang Khu Underpass today opened to traffic for the first time, making good on Phuket Highways Office Chief Papiwetwoottisak Sookkii’s promise to have open as many of the road construction sites across Phuket to alleviate traffic jams during the New Year holidays.

The Bang Khu Underpass today (Dec 28) opened to traffic for the first time to alleviate traffic jams during the New Year holidays. Photo: Phuket Highways Department

“Today (Dec 28) is the first day that we have allowed traffic to flow through the Bang Khu Underpass, and it will continue to do so until midnight on Jan 3,” Phuket Highways engineer Somkiet Yimpong told The Phuket News today.

“The underpass is not nice to look at yet because the project is only 65% complete, but we have opened one lane northbound from Phuket Town toward Phuket International Airport so traffic may flow through freely,” he added.

Mr Papiwetwoottisak on Dec 9 called for patience from motorists for having to endure the ongoing traffic woes while construction continues, but said that he was working on halting construction at all roadworks sites from Dec 29 to Jan 4 as a New Year’s gift to the people. (See story here.)