A two-metre wide hole, about three metres deep, has forced a temporary lane closure following continuous rain earlier this week.
Director of Phuket Highway Office, Mr Samak Luadwonghad, said the damage on the lane was due to subsidence where a drain pipe is located under the road.
“The drain pipe was installed more than a decade ago and its capacity is insufficient to handle the large volume of runoff from continuous rain over four days,” said Mr Samak.
The excessive rainfall caused erosion and subsidence of the pipe, he explained.
Traffic has been reduced to a single lane with traffic cones and barriers in place while work is carried out to replace the pipe and restore the missing section of road.
Mr Samak assured The Phuket News that work to fix the road should take no more than five days, as long as there is no more heavy rain while repairs take place.