For those who follow such things, the discussions continue:
https://www.facebook.com/udontoday.news/

Has anyone got a clear map of what MIGHT be the proposed second ring road around Udon Thani? If so I'd appreciate an emailed copy to [email protected] . Let's hope it goes ahead, the old ring road is fast becoming unfit for purpose.

vincemunday wrote:Has anyone got a clear map of what MIGHT be the proposed second ring road around Udon Thani? If so I'd appreciate an emailed copy to [email protected] . Let's hope it goes ahead, the old ring road is fast becoming unfit for purpose.

http://www.udonmap.com/udonthaniforum/s ... 28132.html

You can post as many copies of the proposed road as you like, just be rest assured none of us will be in the upright walking position by the time this road is in use, that's any section.
You only have to see around the ring road and many secondary village roads that there is no effort to have a good road system. IMO.


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Unfortunately Barney is right, the ability to even link traffic lights together or to use them effectively is lost on the Road management skills of the RTP.
Infrastructure was one of the things that drew me to Udon as 15 years ago they had a distinct advantage over other large towns cities.
However with the grow population and vast increase in traffic in the town they are at a loss and as for the ringroad, well it took them 13 years to complete the last bit ( badly ) they are building a new uni ( expected 20,000 students ) at Sampro with zero infrastructure in place and now they wish to build a second link to the Nong Khai . But at no time do they get the State railway to widen or make more efficient the rail crossings so whatever you do a funnel effect will occur causing holdups ad infinitum as we all know near to UD town on the Phrosi Road.

on the top map any idea what the RED on the route indicates versus the dotted BLUE line?? Does the RED indicate a confirmed route and the dotted BLUE a tentative route? As with many of these infrastructure projects we hear a lot but they never seem to get in gear.. Seems to me that dropping the fill and building the road isn't a huge engineering project so it must be all about compensation to the landowners on the planned routes...

I think they will have to start the project at some point or Udon Thani will grind to a halt, certainly some parts of the ring road are already very busy already as pointed out by some other posters. To be fair to the current administration it's good to see projects actually getting finished, a few years ago it seemed like some projects went on forever with no end in sight. Another thing that should be considered is the state of the roads when they first took over, they weren't great and I'm pretty sure they've had to spend a lot of money just patching up what was originally there and that we had temperatures of 48.4c last summer, not great for tarmac.

A friend who's with the Chamber of Commerce explained:
The black and blue dotted lines have been approved a few years ago but the priority is different. "The city is trying to get the next year budget from the government to get the black dotted route first. Udon thani private bodies are talking and taking action on this project."
I believe the red line is just a proposal at this point in time.

Not trying to paint a pretty picture of the traffic situation here......but, all things considered, with the glut of new cars and transport trucks on the roads these days, I've seen lots worse traffic than what I see in Udon. Perhaps the worst area (for me) is from Makkaeng School on Srisuk to the traffic circle, especially on holidays or when the police are directing traffic at the statue circle. All the other bottle necks in town seem to keep moving, albeit slowly. I don't drive downtown when schools opening/closing or hit Central on a Sunday afternoon......and will be avoiding the Tungsrimuang area for the next week or so while the fair is ongoing.
By my count in my time, the Nongkai, Nongbualamphu, Sakhon Nakhon Hwys have all been widened making travel much more convenient. The ring road has been widened.....not perfect, especially on the SW ring, but still a big improvement. The area from the Nongbua market to Big C was widened. Red light lanes allowing straight through traffic have been added at the T intersection at Mc D., Udon Pit School, Rahjapat, and the T near the CAT office. Tahan Road has been widened. The overpass at Big C was added and an under/over pass is ?supposed? to be built soon at the Tesco/Nonghai Hwy intersection. The KK Hwy was widened. Nongsamrong Rd was widened.
I haven't been stuck behind a sugar cane truck in years.....that was common not so long ago. And I haven't encountered an Orange Crush bus heading toward me in my lane in years either....probably because most of their routes are now 4 lane, versus the old two.
Perfect? No. But waaaaay better than it was when I arrived.

better in many respects but you'll have to admit that the amount of cars on the road was tiny compared to what it is today. The added congestion and the fact that Udon was certainly never built for the level of traffic and cars double-triple parked that we have now means that apart from select hours during the day, driving downtown is difficult at best. Being retired, I can avoid that 0730-0930 and 1500-1800 headache..

FrazeeDK wrote:better in many respects but you'll have to admit that the amount of cars on the road was tiny compared to what it is today. The added congestion and the fact that Udon was certainly never built for the level of traffic and cars double-triple parked that we have now means that apart from select hours during the day, driving downtown is difficult at best. Being retired, I can avoid that 0730-0930 and 1500-1800 headache..

As for the amount of vehicles today....absolutely! many many more. And I'm fortunate not to have to do the St Mary's Don Bosco UdonPit run every day. But in the days of not so old, there was not much worse than being stuck behind a dinosaur 10 wheel sugar cane truck on the roads just outside the city or on what was then a 2 lane ring road.

The city held its first public forum to discuss the proposed bypass road. Additional forums will be held in April and May. The city encourages participation by affected and concerned parties.
http://www.homecable.co.th/home-news/lo ... rettyPhoto

Slow wheel....but it's turning.
The various affected areas are welcoming comments concerning the plans for the bypass road.
https://scontent.fkkc1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/ ... e=5CDC22B6

We live very close to the big roadworks north-south,west-east and I,ve had to take the granddaughter to pre-school on Wattana road,near the Adunyadet rd junction,at 7.30am and picking her up at 3.15pm.
For quite a few months the journeys were a nightmare,taking about 40 minutes,and often I,d go via Nonsamrong.....a fair bit further but better than being sat in a big traffic jam everyday.
But the last few weeks has seen a big improvement.Traffic flowing pretty smoothly and the journey took me just 15 minutes when I went to pick her up from school last Friday.
When the project is completed I think it will be a big benefit to road users and businesses in the area.

That's a map of the intermediate "bypass" that goes through Nong Sai. While it will help with any traffic to/from Rte 22 it will do nothing to fix the heavy traffic problems for vehicles going to Nong Khai/Vientiane. What the status of the actual outer ring road that is supposed to go from Rte 2 south of Nong Soong over to Rte 22 and then north (passing just east of the Sam Phrao Rajhabat campus) and then back to Rte 2 near the Ban Pheu intersection???