Pattaya traffic engineers screw Jomtien-Pattaya route

[MM 6,562]

How Pattaya traffic engineers can screw up the trip from Jomtien to central Pattaya in one day. They've diverted traffic from Thappraya to 3rd road at the overpass. This means baht busses from Jomtien are going to have to go to 3rd Road instead of 2nd Road...I have no idea what short cuts they will use that will further screw up traffic. Started today. See the map for an explanation.

 

 

 

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

I'm really happy that I decided to move into central Pattaya from Jomtien. I wonder how long it will take before it's changed back again. The new routing will mean it will take two or three times longer to get by baht bus to WS from Jomtien, even if the drivers find shortcuts past TukCom to Pattaya Tai.

 

Evil

[MM 6,562]

I'm really happy that I decided to move into central Pattaya from Jomtien.  I wonder how long it will take before it's changed back again. The new routing will mean it will take  two or three times longer to get by baht bus to WS from Jomtien, even if the drivers find shortcuts past TukCom to Pattaya Tai.

 

Evil

I can't think of any decent short cuts that aren't currently already congested. All of this to make 100 meters of road one-way. It boggles to think about it.

 

It might keep some Russians in Jomtien, so there might be a silver lining.

 

[Paul BRS 64]

Now coming down thapraya they turn left at the lights and then right at the bottom of pratumnak into the 2-way sectio of 2nd road... it has made the junction a lot safer... there have been so many accidents since even i have lived pratumnak over 2 years...

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

I can't think of any decent short cuts that aren't currently already congested. All of this to make 100 meters of road one-way. It boggles to think about it.

 

It might keep some Russians in Jomtien, so there might be a silver lining.

 

It will depend a bit on the time of day, but you're right, the side streets streets around TukCom are heavily congested with delivery vehicles at just about all hours.

 

Evil

[MM 6,562]

Now coming down thapraya they turn left at the lights and then right at the bottom of pratumnak into the 2-way sectio of 2nd road... it has made the junction a lot safer... there have been so many accidents since even i have lived pratumnak over 2 years...

Left at the lights? I only saw right turn arrows leading to 3rd road. But, I was in the center lane and definitely did not want to go to 3rd road!

I'll give it another look when this cloud burst lets up.

[Idefix 2,275]

Now coming down thapraya they turn left at the lights and then right at the bottom of pratumnak into the 2-way sectio of 2nd road...

it has made the junction a lot safer... there have been so many accidents since even i have lived pratumnak over 2 years...

 

You mean like that ?:

Could be a good idea, but be careful now if you go/back Phratamnak Rd...

Edited July 9, 2013 by Idefix

[ttk 236]

This looks like it is going to work as well as the stoplight they added there several years back. I was at the Residence Garden when it happened and the traffic was backed up all the way to the intersection to Buddha hill. The light was gone by my following trip.

[MM 6,562]

The intersection at Pratumnak and 2nd road, with 3rd road tributaries is just as dodgy. They've moved the problem to another intersection. They've put up traffic lights at that intersection, but as of today, they are just flashing red.

This left turn off Thappraya is a small delay (distance-wise), so it's not as dire as I initially supposed.

 

[papillon 695]

The City ought to ban nonessential traffic from large tracts of Pattaya. More public transport and triple the baht bus fare.

[Grandpollo 366]

This will make the Residence Garden a wee bit less attractive unless you want to shlep from 3rd to 2nd to Beach Road.

 

Has anyone taken the baht bus down this route (excluding the left turn mentioned above), and do the baht buses stay on 3rd road to the end or turn to 2nd road as soon as they can, through Gaytown for example?

[MM 6,562]

This will make the Residence Garden a wee bit less attractive unless you want to shlep from 3rd to 2nd to Beach Road.

 

Has anyone taken the baht bus down this route (excluding the left turn mentioned above), and do the baht buses stay on 3rd road to the end or turn to 2nd road as soon as they can, through Gaytown for example?

Paul BRS in post #4 of this topic says there is a left turn to Pratumnak that only adds a bit to the trip length...

 

[PattayaPete 530]

This change is working for me. I pass through that intersection everyday and it is often congested with long delays caused by traffic merging at the next intersection - Pratamnak and Thappraya.

 

If coming from Jomtien then a left turn into Pratamnak at the police box opposite Sugar Hut gives you a straight run to 2nd Rd with very little delay. If you are starting north of that intersection then a left turn at Thappraya and 3rd and a right turn at Pratamnak works well. Overall this has probably reduced my trip time by 3 - 5 minutes.

Edited July 10, 2013 by PattayaPete

[glynbuk 29]

looks like the route they used a few times at Christmas last year to get around the traffic congestion under the flyover coming from residence garden,

[MM 6,562]

I may have over-reacted on this one. I only traveled this route for the first (and last) time yesterday (since the lights were activated), and got funneled into 3rd road from the middle lane of Thappraya. I did not see a left turn lane available or a signal light to route traffic left...but then, I was doing what a good motorbike rider does and watching the traffic around me as we made the forced right turn.

 

Let's see what the do to the Pratumnak/2nd road intersection now. If they don't get the lights right, the traffic will back up onto Thapprarya making that left turn.

 

I can't help but think they will still figure a way to screw it up

[Paul BRS 64]

 

You mean like that ?:

Could be a good idea, but be careful now if you go/back Phratamnak Rd...

Yes... where you turn right into 2nd road they have made a turn right lane...

 

In high season at around 7 to 8pm there are traffic jams on thepraya the lights will sort it out...

 

This is thailand after all if there was any logic used in this scheme!

[ttk 236]

Yes... where you turn right into 2nd road they have made a turn right lane...

 

In high season at around 7 to 8pm there are traffic jams on thepraya the lights will sort it out...

 

This is thailand after all if there was any logic used in this scheme!

The last time they had a light, it backed things up the hill.

All the jams I see have one or more tour busses involved. Perhaps the solution would be to force them onto 3rd road...

[Trvlr 50]

Until this year, I used to stay in Jomtien whenever I visited, for the last 5/6 years anyway.

Songtheos would often take this detour when faced with a jam at Third Road, especially in the evenings. The city has just formalized what many drivers used to do anyway.

I went this morning and traffic was flowing very nicely. Dont know what the evenings are like.

Maybe someone will report?

[MM 6,562]

Until this year, I used to stay in Jomtien whenever I visited, for the last 5/6 years anyway.

Songtheos would often take this detour when faced with a jam at Third Road, especially in the evenings. The city has just formalized what many drivers used to do anyway.

I went this morning and traffic was flowing very nicely. Dont know what the evenings are like.

Maybe someone will report?

 

Seems okay now...it was jammed the first day, but might work until they put in the lights at the cutover junction to Pratumnak...that might cause a left lane backup on Thappraya, since Thai traffic lights are not very well set up (example is 3rd Road and Pattaya Tai).

[MM 6,562]

They have tweaked the lights at 3rd Road underpass and Thappraya so that there is a long backup on Thappraya now...even preventing traffic from taking the left lane to get over to Walking Street.

I sat through 2 lights (on a motorcycle) trying to get to the U turn spot before the lights, and what I saw was complete chaos. The cycle seemed to be about 2-3 minutes for the lights to do a complete cycle. When they turned green for the northbound traffic, the green light lasted 8-10 seconds, about 4 seconds of which was taken by southbound traffic (from 2nd Road) continuing through the red light. This left about 4-6 seconds for any cars waiting to turn right onto 3rd or left over to Pratumnak...and then RED!

 

Meanwhile, all entrances to the intersection were waiting, watching an empty intersection with no traffic.

 

They've screwed up the lights that are now going up and down Pratumnak at the underpass as well. Most motorcycles are just going thru the red lights rather than watching an empty intersection waiting for a green light.

 

I wonder if anyone does any kind of review of these light durations or do they just set them and walk away?

[papillon 695]

Is it quicker to walk?

[MM 6,562]

Is it quicker to walk?

 

Not yet. Just unnecessary delays.

 

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

 

[jacko 8,813]

I think the TGF is well tired of hearing my grumble about traffic lights that keep me waiting, but are green for an empty other minor junction.

The lights are all timer based ( rather than having some under road detection) and of course no synchronisation between them.

Also they are green mostly for everyone, those going right, left or straight on rather than giving some longer period for the main road straight through traffic.

Thanks for the heads up here... fortunately I rarely need to go this way and use Sukhumvit-Threpasit when heading to and from Jomtiem.

 

Sometimes things seem to work better without the traffic lights, just letting everyone go at it.

Could be worse...... it gets really bad when a policeman takes over!

[dv34917 13]

If they really wanted to solve the traffic problem from Jomtien to Pattaya, they would build a first-class shopping mall in Jomtien comparable to the ones in Pattaya. Most of the really bad traffic occurs from 5 to 8 pm and many of those drivers are going to the mall for shopping or for dinner. 6 shopping malls in Pattaya and 0 in Jomtien is the chief source of the traffic congestion.

[Evil Penevil 7,628]

They have tweaked the lights at 3rd Road underpass and Thappraya so that there is a long backup on Thappraya now...even preventing traffic from taking the left lane to get over to Walking Street.

During the peak days in December 2012 (20-31 Dec) and January 2013 (Jan 1-6), the baht buses from Jomtien used the left-turn-before-the-overpass variation. In the evening rush hours, about 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., there were still huge delays due to the sheer volume of traffic. If the traffic lights aren't timed properly and adjusted to the actual flow of traffic, they can create the same effect as increased volume would.

 

Evil