"Boys Brigade" ?? You could have seen them in action Wednesday afternoon at the Sam Praow intersection of the ring road. 2 "technicians" on their hands and knees with a steel HAND trowel/float (about 7-8 inches long) each finishing (smoothing out) the concrete road work on the new right/center lane on the ring road. Talk about a laugh. Tal about backward technology. More like 40 years behind the rest of the world. I suppose the contractor pocketed the extra cash it would have cost to lay a proper concrete road surface with a REAL piece of machinery.

Barney wrote:

parrot wrote:

Barney wrote:Any idea if it went out for tender to reputable companies either in Thailand or international?
3 years...they gotta be joking. Must be allowing additional time for funds to run out and refinancing.

With the complete lack of Thai logic and any thought for traffic control on even the smallest of road projects, one can foresee a complete cluster f,,k for delays.

If you saw what happened with the Big C overpass, you'd understand. I can't remember how long it took, but I'd guess it was in the range of 3 years. Most of that time, nothing was happening.

There's a picture log of how the product should look at
https://www.facebook.com/udon.today.new ... =3&theater

Yes I agree and understand Parrot about the Thainess in a project, hence my remark if it has gone out for an accredited and noteworthy true ISO company both local and International.
Large gov't tenders for major regional infrastructure projects over a certain amount should go through a process of tendering and not go to the job for the boys brigade. I am not saying this is not happening, but, :-"
Also not saying it should go to an international company either, but I have in the last 12 months observed while driving to work some large road/bridge/overpass projects in china be completed amazingly fast. Some would dwarf this intersection work.
Just saying.

?ISO company?......those companies build things lIke new Tescos and condos. They wear hard hats and safety gear when they work. I didn't see any of that when the Big C bridge was being built........who knows. Maybe times have changed.

fdimike wrote: by fdimike » July 29, 2016, 8:55 am

"Boys Brigade" ?? You could have seen them in action Wednesday afternoon at the Sam Praow intersection of the ring road. 2 "technicians" on their hands and knees with a steel HAND trowel/float (about 7-8 inches long) each finishing (smoothing out) the concrete road work on the new right/center lane on the ring road. Talk about a laugh. Tal about backward technology. More like 40 years behind the rest of the world. I suppose the contractor pocketed the extra cash it would have cost to lay a proper concrete road surface with a REAL piece of machinery.

I'm wondering how you would have finished the concrete surface Mike? You can get power screeds, they only screed the concrete, all over the world you have to bend your back and use a trowel to get the finished sealed surface.

Just a few concrete power tools

noosard wrote: by noosard » July 29, 2016, 9:51 am

Just a few concrete power tools


concete heli.jpg (3.06 KiB) Viewed 62 times

Yes your showing a helicopter and power screed, helicopters don't do edges and screeds do just that screed the surface flat, as stated you must pick up a trowel every time!

Coxo are you trying to say that we have people on their hands and knees doing hand finishing on the thousands of expressways and super highway throughout the world. If this is what you are alleging than I would suggest you are out of touch with modern road construction techniques. This was not a driveway or sidewalk. This was being done on a HIGHWAY and there were 2 workers on their hands and knees with a bucket of water each and a HAND trowel in the middle of the concrete which had not fully set up yet . Normally this work is done by machinery with workers along the edge joint cleaning/dressing things up a bit.

fdimike wrote: by fdimike » July 29, 2016, 9:23 pm

Coxo are you trying to say that we have people on their hands and knees doing hand finishing on the thousands of expressways and super highway throughout the world. If this is what you are alleging than I would suggest you are out of touch with modern road construction techniques. This was not a driveway or sidewalk. This was being done on a HIGHWAY and there were 2 workers on their hands and knees with a bucket of water each and a HAND trowel in the middle of the concrete which had not fully set up yet . Normally this work is done by machinery with workers along the edge joint cleaning/dressing things up a bit.

What I'm saying is that throughout the world all edges and around penetrations are done by hand, dead right.

Not a lot of concrete used on main highways these days ...... probably due to lack of trowels and buckets of water :-"

City officials met again to discuss the impending traffic problems once construction begins on the overpass/tunnel at the ringroad/Nongkai Hwy intersection. Some reports say construction could begin in April.
I'm just guessing that the Nongsamrong Rd (from the Nongkai Hwy to the ring road) will see a lot more traffic as a result.
http://www.matichon.co.th/news/503426

They had a choice of an overpass AND a tunnel and chose BOTH so a total win-win. However, looking at the concept drawing on the previous page, the heaviest flow (between 216 ring-road and Highway 2 Nongkhai road) will be interrupted by traffic lights whereas the two lighter flows of Highway 2 traffic from downtown headed north gets the tunnel and the 216 ring-road flow gets the overpass respectively.

The excuse for the virtually empty flyover from Phosi Highway 22 to Sakhon Nakhon Sawan at Big C versus the traffic lighted bottleneck on the ring road underneath was "the ring road wasn't so busy" when they got that flyover/underpass arse about tit. I wonder what the excuse will be for this clusterf*ck?

Logical thought was never a strong part of Thai thinking , so planning routes away from that junction over the next two years would be a LOGICAL step.

seems like lots of pending projects with some depending upon others to get started.

Well in traveling about lots of infrastructures projects in the works now.

I realize that no amount of thinking about it beforehand will reduce the pain and agony of having a tooth pulled..........but the clock is ticking on the beginning of construction. City officials seem to understand the problems construction will cause......and seem to be trying to find ways to minimize the pain.
You can flip through the photos of projected traffic routes at
https://www.facebook.com/udontoday.news ... S_TIMELINE

Well I hope they do more planning than the mess in Nong Samrong. There seems to have been no planning and no thought about disruption to businesses there.

perhaps the other intermediate bypass on the east side (via Nong Sa/Sam Phrao) will be completed before the overpass/tunnel project.. That would take a lot of the traffic off the current ring road.

My feeling is that one may improve the traffic at one intersection, only for it to build up at the next one!
I'm not that a regular traveller that way, but I cite the underpass at Khon Kaen.
If my memory serves me correctly, the intersection which the underpass now goes under was not that much of a problem in the past, as far as volume of traffic.
Yet, a few hundred metres further on going south, one meets a MAJOR intersection, outside the Mall complex. Loads of traffic and long wait at the lights. Speed through the underpass, only to meet this.
I'm suggesting the underpass might have been better built at the bigger intersection.
Then, further on coming out of KK, there are several sets of lights anyway. What a drag it is.

Brian Davis wrote:My feeling is that one may improve the traffic at one intersection, only for it to build up at the next one!
I'm not that a regular traveller that way, but I cite the underpass at Khon Kaen.
If my memory serves me correctly, the intersection which the underpass now goes under was not that much of a problem in the past, as far as volume of traffic.
Yet, a few hundred metres further on going south, one meets a MAJOR intersection, outside the Mall complex. Loads of traffic and long wait at the lights. Speed through the underpass, only to meet this.
I'm suggesting the underpass might have been better built at the bigger intersection.
Then, further on coming out of KK, there are several sets of lights anyway. What a drag it is.

I would disagree about the KK underpass. It was built at the bigger intersection. The junction it sits under was a nightmare beforehand, the junction you mention is pleasant now compared to the one before the underpass was built.

You had major traffic on route 2 north south and major traffic on route 12 east west for the university, airport, bus station, and city centre all of that trying to get through a police controlled junction. It was not a good time.

sometimewoodworker wrote: I would disagree about the KK underpass.......

Ok, so perhaps my memory of Maliwan Rd perhaps even 10-15 years ago is not so great! How long has the underpass been built? But your map does indicate it's the Maliwan intersection which is bigger.
I feel I've a point, as others have said too, that one problem eased only pushes the hold-ups a bit further along the route.
Following Udon playing in Khon Kaen a couple of times (ok the weekend and many shoppers), I viewed the Centralplaza junction as chaotic, particularly outside the Mall and was pleased I got a courtesy ride from hotel into town and tuk tuk back. A side issue, but finding parking appeared a nightmare. And the volume of traffic is reflected in long waits at those lights trying to move further out of town.
I looked closely at the roadside 'scribbled' signs in my now twice daily trip into Udon today (son's new school). The road to Udon to Nong Khai certainly is written UNDERPASS. I do fear once work starts, my journey times are going to lengthen a lot. But still preferable to those school buses which take ages.

From the local news.......traffic at the Tesco/Pai Ro Hospital/ringroad intersection will be diverted as shown in the photos......the news doesn't say for how long.