“Construction is going well. We have not encountered any more major obstacles to completion, and the tunnel itself is now done,” said Chalermpon Wongkietkun, Project Engineer from the Highways Department Phuket office.
“Workers are now paving the ramps at both ends of the tunnel, which we will be able to open to traffic on April 9,” he said.
After the tunnel work is complete, work will begin on paving the ground-level lanes that pass the project site.
“We will pave new road surfaces in front of Tesco Lotus (southbound), then we will pave the lanes in front of Aphodite (northbound,’ Mr Chalermpon said.
“We will issue notices soon announcing when we will begin those road works,” he added.
The project has suffered a slew of delays sin work began, resulting in repeated extended deadlines for the contractor, Vivat Construction Co Ltd, to complete the underpass.
The latest hurdles came in January, when a section of the southbound lanes dangerously collapsed, forcing police to close the road intersection until emergency repairs were made. (See story here.)