“The project has been delayed again due to recent heavy rain, and we pushed back the opening date to the end of August,” Chalermpon Wongkietkun, Project Engineer from the Highways Department told The Phuket News this morning (Aug 19).
“If work is not disrupted any further by heavy rain or floods, we should hit our August 31 deadline,” he said.
Workers this week opened the northbound slip road onto Phra Phuket Kaew Rd, which heads west into Kathu, after resurfacing the road there.
“Motorists can use the side road to turn left onto Phra Phuket Kaew Rd and make a u-turn if they want to continue head north toward the airport,” Mr Chalermpon.
“We have posted a sign by the northbound lanes of the bypass road to let people know they can go use the side road,” he added.
However, Mr Chalermpon pointed out that many motorists have been entering the side road from the northern end and ‘ghost driving’, travelling against the flow of traffic, in order to reach their destination.
“We still have problems with motorists driving in the wrong direction in this area,” Mr Chalermpon said.
“We have posted a ‘Do not enter’ sign at northern end of the side road sign to stop motorists from driving the wrong way there. We put these signs up for safety reasons, so please obey them.
“Do not drive in the wrong direction along these roads or remove our road barriers so you can drive into the construction area.
“Many times we have been blamed when people doing this have got into accidents or had their vehicles damaged by road debris at the construction site, so please obey traffic laws for your own safety,” he said.