that damn road to hua hin

Post by **seasides** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:36 pm

this friday, april 6th, it took me 6 (six!) hours to drive from bkk to hua hin.

go figure.

left after 8am - stupid me, i know, normally i drive in the evenings or early mornings.

but then again, will that road construction ever finish! best guess is it takes another 6-8 years.

welcome to paradise city - once you arrive there.

and all the gravel on the road from the never ending construction. knocked out two beautiful big spots from my brand new car.

sometimes i hate this place.

Post by **DawnHRD** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 10:08 pm

Holiday weekends are always bad, but that does sound excessive. And in this heat...

Post by **webmaster** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 10:26 pm

A gentle reminder on this, next week and the extended weekend will be even worse, because of the Songkran celebrations.

It's adviced to travel, when most of the people are sleeping.

#Edited for typos#

Post by **shakin' boxcar joe** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 10:29 pm

Considering that they are upgrading nearly 100kms of road from 4 lanes to eight lanes, I think they are doing a pretty good job and doing it quickly too.

There is minimal road closures and the only real bottlenecks are where they are constructing bridges.

If this was in the UK it would involve year long lane closures and awful contraflows.

Friday is always a bad day, and the Friday before a long weekend during the school holidays will always be a nightmare.

I drive to Bangkok and back about twice a month and usually manage it in 3 hours, including a stop at Nantawans for a curry and a box of pineapple biscuits.

When its all finished the journey will be a doddle.

Within a year I would bet.

Post by **The understudy** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 11:37 pm

Hi there Seasides

Yo the latest finishing date for the 100km widening of Da Road to Hua Hin is estimated to be Dec, 07 but it's Thai date so we can expect to be a delay.

Aehhh It' bad to come to Hua Hin on Fridays especially on long Weekends then Traffic in Hua HIn is brrrrrr a nightmare!

Post by **hollygolightly1** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:15 am

shakin' boxcar joe wrote: I drive to Bangkok and back about twice a month and usually manage it in 3 hours, including a stop at Nantawans for a curry and a box of pineapple biscuits.

When its all finished the journey will be a doddle.

Within a year I would bet.

I agree. If you do this trip regularly, you'll see how quickly the road has come on. I used to live in the land of cones though - you know, those orange things they put on the side of roadworks in place of people actually working...

Post by **Nomad** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:34 am

Everywhere you drive in Thailand, the roads are under improvement. North of Bkk to Chiang Mai a least three quarters of the way is being fixed. The road south to Surat Thani is a mess. Up to Korat its all cones. They are all to be completed by the King's 80th birthday on Dec. 5.

Post by **seasides** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 4:26 pm

some are faster in implementing their responsability, others slower.

that part through the "salt lakes" looks like never being finished, but i may be wrong.

i also wonder what will happen to those big beautiful trees in the middle of the road after petchaburi. do they dare to chop them down?

the worst bottle neck though is where six lanes become two. was blocked there for about an hour and a half on friday.

good jesus, i admire those finest in brown waving through the non-flowing traffic. chapeau!

Post by JD » Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:59 pm

seasides wrote:i also wonder what will happen to those big beautiful trees in the middle of the road after petchaburi. do they dare to chop them down?

Those big beautiful trees are Teak I believe, I think that they have an international protection on Teak don't they?

Post by **appleman_thai** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 6:59 pm

You gotta be kidding me!
THat road to HH is a disaster - they have been trying to upgrade it for years but due to corruption it never gets finished!

THey just seem to be digging it up and they very rarely finish a section! I think there are just 2 new patches of new road!

About 2months ago, before I left THailand, i drove around the country. Within 4 weeks on the road to Chiang Mai they had completely updated a very long stretch of road. THats 1 month!!! So they can do it if they want!

I just think there is too much corruption on the HH road!

Post by **PJG** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:11 pm

You all should be thankful that you did not have to do the journey 15 years ago. The road was all 2 lane and the journey on Fridays/ Sundays was always about 5 hours. Also one had many heart attacks from being driven off the road by overtaking buses in the wrong lane.

Stop complaining

Post by **Wanderlust** » Tue Apr 10, 2007 10:48 am

I have to drive the Hua Hin to Phetchburi section fairly often, and there has been a marked improvement now to a few months ago. I suspect a large part of that section will have been completed by the end of the year, maybe even before. However the entire run from Bangkok is another matter, and the road surface on the stretch from Samut Sakhon to the Phetchburi/Ratchaburi turn off is awful for such a major road, and the last time I drove it there didn't appear to be any work being even started, let alone finished.

Hua Hin Forum

that damn road to hua hin

that damn road to hua hin

and what about those beautiful big trees?

Re: and what about those beautiful big trees?

Too long