Tourism News

Tourism News Phuketwan Tourism News
facebook recommendations

NEWS ALERTS

Sign up now for our News Alert emails and the latest breaking news plus new features.

Click to subscribe

Existing subscribers can unsubscribe here

RSS FEEDS

Patong Mayor Pian Keesin: no decision without more research

Patong's One-Way Still No Closer to a Verdict

Tuesday, April 26, 2011
ROUND and round they go, and where they stop, nobody knows. Phuket's most reviewed traffic option, the one-way system in Patong, is being looked at again over the next three months.

At the end of that time, Phuket officials hope to be closer to a final decision on whether clockwise or anti-clockwise is Patong's way to go.

Debate continued yesterday in a key meeting at Patong Municipality offices, with the pros and cons of both systems being painstakingly reviewed.

While it seems to be generally accepted that time is up for the current clockwise one-way system, the alternative anticlockwise system still has crosses among the ticks.

Everyone agrees that it would be a big plus for Phuket's favorite west coast tourist destination if visitors actually saw the sea before they reached their resort.

The present configuration sweeps traffic from the airport and from Phuket City down towards the beach, but turns the traffic tide left at Rat-U-Tit 200 Pi Road, which is one block back from the beach road.

Reversing the tide would certainly give new visitors a better perspective on Patong and the beachfront as they arrived.

Whether clockwise should be the new anticlockwise, though, just as whether grey is the new black, has yet to be determined.

Certainly, the battle for a one-way system in Patong is over. Nobody is suggesting, as tuk-tuk drivers once did, that the old two-way needs to be restored.

But the issue that remained today was whether the gridlock that has been kept at bay by the clockwise one-way system will still be kept at bay if the traffic loop is now reversed.

The two problem intersections are the present easy turn into Rat-U-Tit 200 Pi Road, and the swing right by arriving traffic at the beach towards Kalim and Kamala.

Patong's traffic police expert, Lieutenant Colonel Nikorn Rawang, told today's meeting that congestion would develop more easily at both intersections. Traffic lights would probably be required.

Patong mayor Pian Keesin suggested a traffic circle at the Kalim turning, but Lt Colonel Nikorn reckoned that a circle would not solve the issue.

The same problem of whether the reversal would ease traffic flow or increase congestion at the present Rat-U-Tit 200 Pi Road turning remains a key issue.

Some changes to the soi lanes that run in between the beach road and Rat-U-Tit would make the system easier to understand and keep all motorists on the left.

Some would be two-way, others one way. But a reversal was not all a case of plus-plus. Patong Hospital would be more difficult to reach, for example, from the beach.

More study is required, the meeting decided, along with continuing surveys of the people of Patong whose daily lives would be most affected.

No decision will be made until after the options presented today are reviewed again in three months.
Scams, Rip-Offs, Touts: Phuket 'in Danger of Decline,' Warns Aussie Veteran
Latest Extortionate prices, jet ski scams and tuk tuk rip offs are putting Phuket's future as an attractive destination for Australians at risk, says a veteran tour operator.
Scams, Rip-Offs, Touts: Phuket 'in Danger of Decline,' Warns Aussie Veteran

Phuket Bar Crackdown as Brit Dies in Wrong-Way Crash
Breaking News A 2am closing time is in force at bars across southern Phuket following the death of a British tourist on a motorcycle. Other expats have been arrested for drink driving.
Phuket Bar Crackdown as Brit Dies in Wrong-Way Crash

FC Phuket Sensation: Rain May Tap a Replay
Latest Football fans on Phuket are never bored, and the latest sensation means that the 2 5 defeat at the hands of Bangkok FC could become a replay.
FC Phuket Sensation: Rain May Tap a Replay

November Start Set for Phuket Airport Makeover
Latest Phuket's International Airport, the island's key piece of tourism infrastructure, is to begin a 5.8 billion baht makeover in earnest from November.
November Start Set for Phuket Airport Makeover

Phuket Fun Fliers 'Go Take a Flying Leap'
Latest Icarus may have flown too close to the sun but there are no such limitations on the Fun Fly 2011 competitors, enjoying a no noise, non polluting way to soar.
Phuket Fun Fliers 'Go Take a Flying Leap'

Comments

Comments have been disabled for this article.

gravatar

Why is this so hard to figure out?

Posted by sky on April 27, 2011 06:43

gravatar

@sky its called money.

Posted by john s on April 27, 2011 09:55

gravatar

John...I understand there is quite a bit of "money exchange" going on around here...but what could be the connection with traffic flow?

Posted by sky on April 27, 2011 10:26

gravatar

if there are not hundreds of tuk-tuks parking or waiting along all of these streets there would be no need for a one way system.

Posted by Oliver S. on April 27, 2011 10:39

gravatar

"Patong Hospital would be more difficult to reach, for example, from the beach"

Why is that so? Remove the cones and allow traffic to cross Rat-U-Thit Rd.

Posted by Hotel Owner in Patong on April 27, 2011 12:52

gravatar

MITHIC!!!! "No decision will be made until after the options presented today are reviewed again in three months".. That's it! Not take any decision is the best decision to make everybody's happy...

Posted by Richard on April 28, 2011 01:34

gravatar

Just more same-same, no matter what it is in Patong, tuk tuks, jetski's, touts, traffic direction, etc ,etc and will never change as long as these decisions are left to the self interested ''powers that be" in Patong.The only option is to get a stong anti-corruption team from Bangkok in and over ride the locals and make the firm, lasting hard decisions that are needed to sort out the many problems here once and for all .All of these "problems" need not be problems at all.Authorities simply need to show some authority! Make some logical decisions and follow them through! How hard is that? Its for the benefit of ALL who live here isn't it?Unfortunately the BAHT over rides the decisionmakers. As for the quote "no decision without further research" Its not as though this reversal plan is new, how much "research" is needed to draw up a working model, then apply it to the real situation. I figure most people could get it right within one working day. [If uninpeded by influential self interested parties,of course!!] So, sorry nothing will change, all these issues will reappear on a regular basis, as they already do and remain unsolved.

Posted by davidj on April 28, 2011 09:51

gravatar

An immediate improvement would be to reverse the traffic flow in Soi Holiday Inn. Would reduce some traffic on beach road and Rat u Tit. Currently all traffic from South as well as traffic from hotels in Prachanukhro Road (Coconut Resort, Dunag Jitt etc) are forced to travel the beach road to the football stadium before they can turn.

Posted by Anonymous on April 28, 2011 11:09


Friday March 29, 2024
Horizon Karon Beach Resort & Spa

FOLLOW PHUKETWAN

Facebook Twitter