GOOD NEWS for travellers on two wheels and four. Phuket is to get new road signage valued at 11.2 million baht, making directions larger and more clear.

English will be emphasised, and checked for spelling. The first signs should be visible soon after the Vegetarian Festival concludes late this month, says Orborjor funding body CEO Paiboon Upatising.

The Orborjor, otherwise known as the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation, is already supporting plans for security camera coverage to be extended for tourism safety and traffic control.

The signs should all be up by the end of the year.


THE JUNCTION turnoff from the main road to Phuket airport is due to be reopened to right-turning traffic today. Repair work has improved the road surface.

Other work has begun at the Thalang turnoff to Laguna Phuket, and at the t-junction where the bypass road joins Thepkasattri highway. Work should take 45 days.

Construction work is intentionally being done now, with schools on holidays and the high season yet to begin.


THE RAWAI stayput dispute has been settled for 2.5 Million baht, so the dangerous spot where one lane of the road to Rawai vanishes will be gone by the end of next week.


FOR THE FIRST time, Phuket bicyclists will have their own exclusive 12 kilometre track, once funding can be found.

The track will eventually wind from close to the Samkong intersection , along the banks of the Klong Bangyai, to the public park at Saphan Hin.

Researchers from Bangkok say the cycle path can be between two metres and a metre wide for the whole length of the canal, once the fastest means of transporting produce from central Phuket to the docks.

It's evident from the large number of bicycle helmets being worn by motorcyclists (and the passing packs of cyclists) that bicycles are increasingly popular on the island.


POLICE HAVE identified 16 traffic blackspots where mishaps are most frequent. Some of them, where vehicles are forced to turn right and often unsighted by speeding through-traffic, have been corrected.

As road surfaces are improving around the island, authorities have become aware of the need to promote safety, with increased speed. The result is a decrease in deaths on the roads, which total 122 to the end of September.

However, more than 1000 injuries, some of them serious and permanent, are incurred each month. Most of them involve motorcycles.


THE GOVERNOR'S once-controversial plan to plant Phuket's signature palmyra along the route from the airport is now being greeted with universal acclaim.

The palms, some of them already mature, will soon be spreading their distinctive fronds over visitors arriving on the island, making the point that Phuket is quite green, if you ignore the billboards and the jumble of suspended wiring.

Phuketwan believes the palmyras should be extremely effective, with two trees between every set of overhanging highway lights.


CONSTRUCTION has begun at both ends of the new bridge that will link Phuket to the mainland. Pile-drivers are hammering in the foundations on the island, and in the neighboring province of Phang Nga.

The Sarasin Bridge, for outbound traffic, is to be preserved, with the middle section lifted higher to accommodate sightseeing and fishermen, as well as allowing high-masted yachts to proceed underneath for the first time.