The lanes closest to the median strip of the bypass road, in both directions, will be closed and traffic disruption is a certainty.
At the meeting on Thursday (November 8) at the future construction site, the project engineer, Ittiwat Kritsanawanit of the Phuket Highways Department, told local business people about the plan so that they can prepare for the inconvenience of more traffic jams.
After the site has been cleared, construction by the main contractor, the giant Italian-Thai, will start at the beginning of December. The underpass will take about two years to complete.
“I have talked to Central Festival representatives and will give them some brochures which show people three ways to avoid the intersection while work is underway. We will also be handing out the brochures ourselves,” Mr Ittiwat said.
For those wanting to go from the north to Patong, its a simple matter of following the most logical route – turning right at Tesco-Lotus. But the other two suggested routes are far from simple. They are:
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Coming from the north and going to anywhere on Wichit Songkram Rd to the west of Central (such as Makro) head south from the Tesco-Lotus intersection, make a U-turn at the Phuket International Hospital, then turn left into Bangyai Rd.
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To go from the north end of the bypass road towards the south of the island, avoiding the roadworks, the department suggests turning left at Tesco, then right past the Bangkok Hospital, then following Yaowarat Rd through Phuket Town to the Suriyadet (fountains) roundabout, then on down Bangkok Rd and Wirat Hongyok Rd before turning left into Chao Fah West Rd to the south of Central Festival.
This route will require changes to the one-way system in Phuket Town, and it has yet to be seen how the narrow streets of the town will handle the extra traffic load.
The department has yet to make suggestions on how to avoid the roadworks when driving from the south.