Whilst commuting up to BKK in the early hours of Monday morning and returning at dusk Fridays I've noticed something that I've seen many times before but never thought about!
As many of you will know, most of the journey is currently occupied with the mega road widening scheme.
Now - this is a serious question.
Why is it that there are huge excavations of existing sub soil where the new road is to be laid - I'm talking at least 2m?
Is the specification for Thai roads such, that thick layers of sub strata must be laid before the final tarmac cover is put down?
If so - why is it that the road will be full of potholes and falling apart within 6 months of its' completion ?:cuss:
Answers in a brown envelope please!
Road Quality
I'm no road engineer but I think the potholes are caused when tarmac is laid straight onto compacted sand which sinks further after rains, certainly seen this on smaller local road construction around here. They don't seem to use any hardcore as a base.
They also don't camber properly which is why the drains are put smack in the middle of roads instead of at the sides.
After a few hundred trucks rolling over them they too collapse and its usually an unfortunate motorcyclist that ends up going down one of them in a Monty-Pythonesque scene which is far from comical for the poor rider. Occasionally a good citizen will jam a huge branch down there to warn people, however after dark this can also result in another Monty-Pythonesque scene when .....
They also don't camber properly which is why the drains are put smack in the middle of roads instead of at the sides.
After a few hundred trucks rolling over them they too collapse and its usually an unfortunate motorcyclist that ends up going down one of them in a Monty-Pythonesque scene which is far from comical for the poor rider. Occasionally a good citizen will jam a huge branch down there to warn people, however after dark this can also result in another Monty-Pythonesque scene when .....
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
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Terry
- Suspended
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- Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2006 5:53 pm
- Location: At Hua Hin Fishing Lodge, Hin Lek Fai most of the time.......
Interesting one from todays Bangkok Post
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
Thailand's beautiful road surfaces
JESSADA TANDHASETTI
I have long been puzzled by the condition of newly constructed roads in Thailand. I mean if they're new, they should be nice and flat shouldn't they?
But take a comfortable riding car and drive it over any brand new concrete road and what do you find? Unbelievably flawed and irregular, aren't they?
A friend of mine once said those roads weren't made by hands, but something much on the lowest part of the body.
Such anomaly should not have surfaced since the contract must have specified the work qualities before handing over to the BMA or the Highway Department.
A substandard work could never have been accepted by the authority unless something involving two or more parties happened sometime, somehow and somewhere - you know - which resulted in a brisk handing over.
There's nothing a contractor fears more than not getting paid and I'm sure they'd do anything to get the money.
If some generous millionaire built a public road for free and it's in a terrible state, you might just have to bear with it.
However, virtually all the public roads are made with your tax money.
I can recall that the first ever international standard concrete road built in Thailand was the Sukhumvit Road which stretched from the railway crossing at Ploenchit to Ekamai some 40 years ago.
It was methodically constructed using some very expensive and high-tech machinery at the time.
The road surface was perfectly smooth and even and stayed that way for a couple of decades - testament to its workmanship.
Then you get all the authorities digging the road up every now and then for sewage works, water works, telephone works, power works etc.
Thanks to all the lack of coordination among the concerned authorities, you get to find someone digging up the same stretch of road just about every year or so.
A person my age or older never dreamed of being able to drive up and down the country on multiple lane highways.
The four superhighways that branch out in four different directions from Bangkok and all the way to the borders are especially beneficial. And to which government should I thank?
As for the Bangkok expressways - they came into existence scores of years late and that must have indirectly wasted billions and billions of baht in economic losses. But at least we get to use them before we die of traffic paralysis.
Expressways are special roadways that need special education for their users, but I have found no such informing by the authorities.
I believe more than half of Bangkok's traffic accidents happened on these expressways and that the root cause is failure to drive properly and safely.
There's this thing called a road lane - bordered on either side by painted strips on the road. There are a great number of drivers who have no idea what they're for.
Many don't know that the rightmost lane is for overtaking cars on the middle or left hand lanes only with the exception that you continuously drive faster than any of the cars to your left.
Then there are nincompoops who drive at a snail's pace like 30 or 40kph. These turtles actually endanger all other drivers just as much as a speeding car.
There ought to be a law stating minimum speed of may be 50-60kph on a three-lane road.
Another driving etiquette that needs educating is how to determine a safe gap to the car in front.
In some European countries, they teach you a simple rule of thumb to do this: take the speed you're at in kph and divide it by two and you get the safe distance in metres.
For example: you're driving at 90kph, divide it by two makes 45. So 45 metres is the safe gap you should allow between your car and the car in front.
The above formula is still conservatively safe to use and it is still safe enough even when you divide your speed by three (the gap at 90kph can be 90 divided by three = 30 metres).
But look at how close most Bangkok drivers are behind the cars in front - five, four or even three metres. That is one of the reasons why you get all the fender benders that jam your road day in and day out.
Jessada Tandhasetti is former department head of automotive engineering studies at Rangsit University and is currently a technical consultant. He holds a master's degree in automotive engineering from Technical University, Berlin, Germany.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
Thailand's beautiful road surfaces
JESSADA TANDHASETTI
I have long been puzzled by the condition of newly constructed roads in Thailand. I mean if they're new, they should be nice and flat shouldn't they?
But take a comfortable riding car and drive it over any brand new concrete road and what do you find? Unbelievably flawed and irregular, aren't they?
A friend of mine once said those roads weren't made by hands, but something much on the lowest part of the body.
Such anomaly should not have surfaced since the contract must have specified the work qualities before handing over to the BMA or the Highway Department.
A substandard work could never have been accepted by the authority unless something involving two or more parties happened sometime, somehow and somewhere - you know - which resulted in a brisk handing over.
There's nothing a contractor fears more than not getting paid and I'm sure they'd do anything to get the money.
If some generous millionaire built a public road for free and it's in a terrible state, you might just have to bear with it.
However, virtually all the public roads are made with your tax money.
I can recall that the first ever international standard concrete road built in Thailand was the Sukhumvit Road which stretched from the railway crossing at Ploenchit to Ekamai some 40 years ago.
It was methodically constructed using some very expensive and high-tech machinery at the time.
The road surface was perfectly smooth and even and stayed that way for a couple of decades - testament to its workmanship.
Then you get all the authorities digging the road up every now and then for sewage works, water works, telephone works, power works etc.
Thanks to all the lack of coordination among the concerned authorities, you get to find someone digging up the same stretch of road just about every year or so.
A person my age or older never dreamed of being able to drive up and down the country on multiple lane highways.
The four superhighways that branch out in four different directions from Bangkok and all the way to the borders are especially beneficial. And to which government should I thank?
As for the Bangkok expressways - they came into existence scores of years late and that must have indirectly wasted billions and billions of baht in economic losses. But at least we get to use them before we die of traffic paralysis.
Expressways are special roadways that need special education for their users, but I have found no such informing by the authorities.
I believe more than half of Bangkok's traffic accidents happened on these expressways and that the root cause is failure to drive properly and safely.
There's this thing called a road lane - bordered on either side by painted strips on the road. There are a great number of drivers who have no idea what they're for.
Many don't know that the rightmost lane is for overtaking cars on the middle or left hand lanes only with the exception that you continuously drive faster than any of the cars to your left.
Then there are nincompoops who drive at a snail's pace like 30 or 40kph. These turtles actually endanger all other drivers just as much as a speeding car.
There ought to be a law stating minimum speed of may be 50-60kph on a three-lane road.
Another driving etiquette that needs educating is how to determine a safe gap to the car in front.
In some European countries, they teach you a simple rule of thumb to do this: take the speed you're at in kph and divide it by two and you get the safe distance in metres.
For example: you're driving at 90kph, divide it by two makes 45. So 45 metres is the safe gap you should allow between your car and the car in front.
The above formula is still conservatively safe to use and it is still safe enough even when you divide your speed by three (the gap at 90kph can be 90 divided by three = 30 metres).
But look at how close most Bangkok drivers are behind the cars in front - five, four or even three metres. That is one of the reasons why you get all the fender benders that jam your road day in and day out.
Jessada Tandhasetti is former department head of automotive engineering studies at Rangsit University and is currently a technical consultant. He holds a master's degree in automotive engineering from Technical University, Berlin, Germany.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the subject of driving there is quite an amusing road awareness guide on the Hua Hin expat site:
http://www.expathuahin.com/driving-huahin.php
http://www.expathuahin.com/driving-huahin.php
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
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dtaai-maai
- Hero
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- Location: UK, Robin Hood country
I was stopped on the bypass between HH and Cha'am recently - not at a roadblock, but by a suicidal traffic cop standing in the fast lane in his khaki/brown/green uniform that blends in so well with the surrounding countryside. Fortunately I spotted his white gloves just in time and pulled over in a fairly dignified manner (i.e. no skidding, and no blood), where I was politely advised by his colleague to keep to the left lane. I managed not to choke on my chewing gum. Since the truck I'd been about to overtake had now disappeared over the horizon, I just smiled and thanked him for the advice.
And no, no money changed hands!
And no, no money changed hands!
This is the way