Overpass/tunnel Udon Ringroad Nongkai Hwy

[stattointhailand]

STOP STOP ALL ROADWORKS!!!
From now on the construction of any road, bridge, tunnel etc
shall be straight and smooth. No Humps no curves, no bends, nothing just straight.

The benefits will outweigh the downsides immensely

Seemed to work for the Romans

[parrot]

I did an overpass, underpass, and a through pass today........granted not at school hours, but there was plenty of traffic and everything was moving smoothly. Naturally my windshield has rose-colored tint.

[Khun Paul]

I did an overpass, underpass, and a through pass today........granted not at school hours, but there was plenty of traffic and everything was moving smoothly. Naturally my windshield has rose-colored tint.

Great now we wait for the Rainy season to see what happens then, p[ossibly after that we can come to sane conclusions .

[noosard]

Rainy season could cause the underpass to flood but that only means straight thru traffic has to use the lights
Overall the new intersection is a great improvement

[tamada]

Ah Choi choi, your comments are as usual unfounded and should be put in File 13, it is NOT the construction or even why it was built, many of the comments serious or humorous is based on years of driving around the world and seeing what works and what does not work based on the driving ability of the drivers.
When you have a country where enforcement is pitiful, laws are ignored on a whim and vehicles dangeropusly6 overloaded in many cases, then it is safe to assume that the over-pass may well be sound in its construction but it is the abilities of drivers that is questionable.
Nowhere have I see apart from here, drivers in ability to stop safely when the BRAKES ARE REPORTEDLY BAD , but here it is trotted out almost daily, most times used to hide the incompetence of the actual driver , which on a straight road with no turns is usually acceptable, but even then here more than many countries even that appears difficult. Put in a bend and hump even a slight problem chaos ensues.

You are right Farangs can go if they7 do not like it, but with Foreigners supplying nearly 11% of GDP maybe you should rethink your comments.

That 11% farang contribution to the Thai GDP is from tourism. What sort of visa are you on SETV or METV?

[tamada]

I see the glass half empty brigade, the ones that perceive everything that their Thai hosts does is doomed to failure, are already clinging to the "tunnel will flood" validation. They should think about forming an association with like-minded individuals in the farang ghetto's across this woefully blighted Realm. There's probably a few bitterly disappointed "the tunnel will flood" friends to be made down in Pattaya. These guys need your support because their membership numbers are falling as the tunnel stayed frighteningly dry even as Sukhumvit flooded on either side. Their falling numbers is also due to the many older, gloomy "Central Festival will collapse" believers eventually dying, ultimately unsatisfied and broken hearted.

Why do they insist on projecting their own miserable failures, be it in finance, relationships or life in general, on every single bloody thing that their Thai hosts do? So I mentioned the new overpass has a bend and all of a sudden we have visions of overloaded, speeding, high- sided pantechnicons flipping over and crushing impoverished British pensioners who's only crime was to be caught shopping for stuff that no longer exists at Tesco-Lotus.

On the hugely more busy highway 304 in Kabinburi, there's a northbound overpass that is "S" shaped but shorter than either one of Udon's overpasses. The bitumen is deeply rutted on both lanes and the speed restriction signage is mostly ignored and it's a mess, especially when it rains. But they never have any accidents on it and stuff doesn't fall off it either.

Get a grip F F S!

[rick]

If I remember correctly the last stat from the Thai Govt stated that Tourism ( which includes us ) was approx. 11% of GDP, now if you even take a conservative estimate of 7K farangs living in Udon Thani Province , each minimum 40 k per month the figure is startling over a year of Income brought into the country , for which that Thai economy has to do nothing just be polite and say WELCOME ( About 280 million by 12, you do the figures and that is just Udon Thani with 70 odd provinces you do the Maths and that is people who are here each and every month

GPP for Udon Thani province is 103 billion baht (2013) so using KP's stats (which are reasonable, although i suspect not 7,000 of us any more, as most western expat populations in Thailand have fallen in the last 5 years) gives a minimum of 3.3 billion baht. Therefore we make up a bit more than 3% of GPP, As some spend a lot more, maybe 4-5%. Not massive, but not insignificant.

AS for the junction, can only be an improvement, although i was somewhat surprised at the degree of curve on the flyover - it comes as a bit of a surprise the first time.

[stattointhailand]

tam my reason for expecting the tunnel to flood has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of "build", but just the fact that every year when the first big rain hits, most of the roads in Udon flood, due to a build up of rubbish/paper/dirt that gets thrown out of cars and then regularly washed down the drains by the water tankers that "wash" the roads. If we assume nobody will bother to clear the drains in the tunnel before the first big storm (in the same way that no preventative maintenance is done to the road drains) it will be a case of more by luck than judgement if it doesn't flood

[noosard]

Yes the straight fly over has a bend
Thought I read Thais can only build straight

555

[tamada]

tam my reason for expecting the tunnel to flood has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of "build", but just the fact that every year when the first big rain hits, most of the roads in Udon flood, due to a build up of rubbish/paper/dirt that gets thrown out of cars and then regularly washed down the drains by the water tankers that "wash" the roads. If we assume nobody will bother to clear the drains in the tunnel before the first big storm (in the same way that no preventative maintenance is done to the road drains) it will be a case of more by luck than judgement if it doesn't flood

Undeniable that certain low areas in and around Udon do frequently get submerged during seasonal flash flooding but in your recollection, did the pre-under/overpass intersection ever flood before? Was anyone cut off from their beloved Tesco-Lotus?

[stattointhailand]

The area where the underpass has its Southern entrance has (in the last 20 years) been probably the most flooded road in Udon, having been under 6 - 12 ins of water on at least a dozen times (and once continually for several days)

[Brian Davis]

Sorry if I've missed it, but has anyone confirmed what purpose the building on the SE corner serves? Not a police box, I think. Control centre for lighting, ventilation, pumping?

[Doodoo]

Brian
Cant confirm but my guess would be pumps With 2 exhausts sticking out the side of the building probably from Diesel engines that could operate the ventilation and pumping facilities

[Khun Paul]

I am told it is the building that houses the electronics etc for the lights and the pumps to clear the water when needed.

[stattointhailand]

It contains a cctv camera to film the scrap metal merchants trying to nick the pile of painted metal that has been left at the junction

[Drunk Monkey]

It contains a cctv camera to film the scrap metal merchants trying to nick the pile of painted metal that has been left at the junction

and or the flow of traffic and its digrestions

[tamada]

The area where the underpass has its Southern entrance has (in the last 20 years) been probably the most flooded road in Udon, having been under 6 - 12 ins of water on at least a dozen times (and once continually for several days)

Maybe you may have missed the ~1.5 m elevation of the ramps at both ends of the underpass before the road actually does drop down below see level. Elevated entrances to underpasses (and real tunnels) in Thailand and elsewhere commonly rely on this design feature to counteract surface water flowing into the tunnel. That and the pumps.

[laksnrub]

The area where the underpass has its Southern entrance has (in the last 20 years) been probably the most flooded road in Udon, having been under 6 - 12 ins of water on at least a dozen times (and once continually for several days)

Maybe you may have missed the ~1.5 m elevation of the ramps at both ends of the underpass before the road actually does drop down below see level. Elevated entrances to underpasses (and real tunnels) in Thailand and elsewhere commonly rely on this design feature to counteract surface water flowing into the tunnel. That and the pumps.

Here's a vid of the humps and tunnel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NJM614efp4

[Brian Davis]

If I've missed it, sorry, but is there a height restriction or general ban on buses(single/double decker), trucks using the underpass/tunnel? I don't actually think I've seen one using it to date, accepting that most probably want to get on the ring road. No signs to this. There's a sort of entrance arch, which MIGHT be a height restriction guide, but no indication of the height allowed.

[RLTrader]

If I've missed it, sorry, but is there a height restriction or general ban on buses(single/double decker), trucks using the underpass/tunnel? I don't actually think I've seen one using it to date, accepting that most probably want to get on the ring road. No signs to this. There's a sort of entrance arch, which MIGHT be a height restriction guide, but no indication of the height allowed.

What?
Planning on moving your 3 story house?
Might have a problem.
Did you watch the video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NJM614efp4