The proposal was originally made when Wichai Praisa’ngop was governor, almost five years ago.
There was great enthusiasm at the time, with good citizens donating land for parts of the road, but everything went quiet when Mr Wichai retired. (He subsequently became Phuket’s appointed senator.)
Now, however, Samak Luadwonghat, director of Provincial Highways Department, has revealed that the project is not dead; consultants have been hired to look into the feasibility of cutting the new road, originally estimated, in 2009, to cost B400 million – excluding the cost of land.
In the meantime, the southern end of Phuket’s main north-south artery, the stretch from the Bang Khu intersection at the north end of the bypass to Rawai, is coming along, Mr Samak said.
Four underpasses are a crucial part of the plan to ease traffic. Two are underway -- next to Central Festival and Tesco-Lotus on the bypass.
Mr Samak explained, “Our plans are aimed at solving congestion between the Bang Khu junction and Chalong Circle, with the priorities being the massive traffic jams on the bypass road and Chao Fah West Rd, especially at the Samkong intersection [Tesco-Lotus] and Darasamuth intersection [Central Festival].’’
The three-lane Darasamuth underpass is close to completion, he said; it is expected to be finished in March this year. The B843-million Samkong underpass project, which will have four lanes extending a total of one kilometre, is 5 per cent complete. It is scheduled for completion by June 2015.
The third project will be the Bang Khu underpass, which will allow traffic to sweep unimpeded through the intersection from Thepkrasattree Rd into the bypass. This will cost B650-700 million. Budget for this is expected to be received from the Department of Highways in 2015.
The final project will be the underpass at Chalong Circle. Mr Samak said, “This underpass is expected to cost about B500 million. Our initial designs envisage it being 700-800 metres long from Chao Fah West Rd, under the circle, to Wiset Rd.
“This project will be presented to the Department of Highways, with a request for budget, once the design is complete in August this year.”
In addition to the underpasses, there will also be a considerable amount of road widening to eliminate bottlenecks. “We have a project to widen a total of four kilometres of road [south of Central Festival] to four lanes.’’