Hearing on bypass road ‘flyover’ in Phuket tomorrow

PHUKET: A planned flyover at the Darasamuth Intersection near Central Festival Phuket will become a ‘flyunder’, if the project consultants get their way.

At a public hearing scheduled for tomorrow at The Metropole hotel, Thai Engineering Consultants (TEC) will recommend a tunnel to take bypass road traffic under the intersection and onto Chao Fa West Road.

Another tunnel would also take bypass road traffic under the similarly congested Samkong Intersection, about two kilometers north near Tesco Lotus.

A flyover would be constructed to take traffic over Samkong Intersection from Yaowarat Road to Phra Phuket Kaew Road, which heads to Kathu.

A TEC study has concluded this scenario is the best of three proposed solutions to congestion at the two intersections.

The study took into account four factors: traffic and transport, engineering, economics and funding, and environmental impact.

A second solution considered in the study would see a flyover at Darasamuth Intersection, with similar structures at Samkong Intersection.

A third would see flyovers for bypass road traffic at both intersections, and no tunnels.

TEC will recommend the first option because a tunnel would have less effect on air quality and generate less noise pollution, the researchers say.

Tunnels would also be less of an eyesore and would not require additional land acquisition, since they would only occupy space currently taken by the existing roads.

Members of the public are invited to share their views of the plans at the Thai-language hearing tomorrow starting at 9:30am.

— Pimwara Choksakulpan