News Analysis: Photo Album
THESE images represent the latest designer versions of how the Patong Hill tunnel might look. Just how fast is Phuket moving forward?
From the look of these graphics, at considerable speed.
The Patong Hill tunnel is likely to be high on the agenda when Patong Council meets tomorrow, especially after yesterday's protest by about 50 families who may be asked to move if the immense project does go ahead.
Are the above visions of what Phuket's tunnel might look like anywhere near accurate? Will the tunnel put Phuket on the fast-track to rapid progress, in every sense?
Phuketwan suspects there's a gap between the future vision and the present reality, a gap of some considerable size. The island remains a popular holiday destination, but one that falls short of international standards in many aspects.
Many of those shortcomings are to do with safety.
While transport planners in Phuket City make incremental progress, adding one new seung taew local bus route at a time, planners in Patong have a grander vision. And it's certainly true that, in a practical sense, on a holiday island where safety was always a consideration, the tunnel would be a wonderful addition to infrastructure.
But Phuketwan has to ask: with motorcycle sidecars and tuk-tuks still being added every day to Phuket's roads, is the aim of achieving a safe and speedy tunnel between Patong and the Phuket hinterland likely to be achievable?
There is no doubt that in an engineering sense, the island could find and pay for the cost of construction, whether it's six billion baht, or whether costs rise.
And the driver who crashed a tour bus earlier this year, killing one passenger and injuring many others, may stand a better chance of making it across the hill if there's a tunnel instead of steep, sharp bends to negotiate.
But what if, having been permitted to drive for an excessively long time, he or some other driver falls asleep in the tunnel?
What Phuketwan is suggesting is that the path to the Patong Hill tunnel is a two-step process. Make the roads safe, then built the tunnel.
Phuket will not be ready for the Patong Hill tunnel until all the present road and safety laws are thoroughly enforced.
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Phuket Warned of Storms Until Wednesday
Boy do I feel sorry for the residents and businesses sitting next to and underneath the overhead road..the noise, the pollution the residual traffic congestion in their own backyard...I still do not believe that Patong's (or even Kathu's) infrastructure can possibly handle the onslaught of potential problems and hazards this tunnel will bring.
Posted by sky on May 10, 2011 13:32