Pictures from around Pattaya

[forcebwithu 4,834]

A BM on another forum made a comment about the height of the box relative to the road height. I was at Easy R-Con last night so snapped another pic from the other end. Once they put the cap on the box and bring the road grade up to that level, the new top of the road is going to be higher than the base of the shop on the right. It'll be interesting to see the finished product and its impact on the surrounding businesses after the first heavy rain.

[Bob Belzy 150]

They'll probably just put in a small ramp at either end and the local lads will flock to jump it on their bikes.

[forcebwithu 4,834]

57 minutes ago, Bob Belzy said:

They'll probably just put in a small ramp at either end and the local lads will flock to jump it on their bikes.

And when the soi floods it'll be a great waterski jump.

Just thought of another idea for some enterprising Thai during the floods, rent paddle boards.

[forcebwithu 4,834]

Work today at Easy R-Con open sewer to put forms in for the concrete cap.

[forcebwithu 4,834]

Easy R-Con open sewer update as of this morning.

Edited to add: I'm now wondering, given the height of the box, if the plan isn't to close off this end of the soi to traffic and allow only foot traffic either side of the box. Keep in mind this soi would still have vehicle access on both sides via soi 13 and 19. Might make for a nice addition to the soi if they plant a garden on top of the box. 

Edited June 15, 2019 by forcebwithu

[JONPAT 222]

Thinking the box was designed in centimeters and built in inches. No problem though, just redo.

[jacko 8,807]

8 hours ago, JONPAT said:

Thinking the box was designed in centimeters and built in inches. No problem though, just redo.

That I can believe. 

[forcebwithu 4,834]

Today's update of the Easy R-Con open sewer project. Installing rebar for the cap.

Last night saw the owners of the R-Con bars so asked them about the project. Original completion date was supposed to have been May 22nd. Early on in the project they knew the timeline wasn't feasible as they didn't have the proper equipment for the job. What was most interesting is they said the plan is to fill the soi in to bring it level with the top of the box. Looking at the pic below I suppose they can get away with doing that as it looks like the floor of the building in the background will be slightly above the new grade.

[jacko 8,807]

1 hour ago, forcebwithu said:

I suppose they can get away with doing that as it looks like the floor of the building in the background will be slightly above the new grade

Be interesting to see how it all works out with the old flooding issues round there. 

[forcebwithu 4,834]

Easy R-Con open sewer project update.

Top of the left side looks like it might end up flush with Buakhao road surface, but the right side is looking a bit too high.

If you extend the sight line out from the top of the concrete form you get an idea how far back on the soi they'll have to backfill to make the road surface level with the top of the box.

It looks like if they do raise the road surface it's going to negatively impact a few shop entrances.

 

[forcebwithu 4,834]

The Avenue's new decorative concrete walkway

The simulated wood looks good

Shame they didn't use the same on the Bali Hai walkway.

 

[jacko 8,807]

Walkways in Thailand look like that (the latter one).

Here is Soi Pothole!

[midlifecrisis 4,047]

You can't use asphalt for paving there because of the heat I take it. I assume it is concrete?

Concrete is generally considered more durable for a road surface.

Potholes are often caused by water getting in and expansion and contraction. So it expands and more water gets in.

It seems to me like they just don't understand a good mix. There are mixes of concrete for different applications. Also the underlay is important. I am not an expert but we have freeways with big rig traffic that hold up better.

Afterall, how many potholes do you see on a runway? If runways can withstand passenger jets, they should be able to handle traffic in Pattaya.

 

Edited June 24, 2019 by midlifecrisis

[forcebwithu 4,834]

2 hours ago, midlifecrisis said:

You can't use asphalt for paving there because of the heat I take it. I assume it is concrete?

Concrete is generally considered more durable for a road surface.

Potholes are often caused by water getting in and expansion and contraction. So it expands and more water gets in.

It seems to me like they just don't understand a good mix. There are mixes of concrete for different applications. Also the underlay is important. I am not an expert but we have freeways with big rig traffic that hold up better.

Afterall, how many potholes do you see on a runway? If runways can withstand passenger jets, they should be able to handle traffic in Pattaya.

Quite a few of the roads have an asphalt surface, probably b/c of the significantly higher cost of using concrete. Think it was about two years ago 2nd Rd was resurfaced with asphalt. At the time I thought it wouldn't last, but so far it's in pretty good shape.

Soi Pothole is an example of a resurfacing job done on the cheap. This pic was taken just before they put down the new asphalt surface. No attempt was made to clean up the garbage first. So no surprise that within a few months the potholes are back.

 

[Bob Belzy 150]

Asphalt used like they have here is nothing more than a sealing/wear layer, if the 'underlay' that carries the loads isn't correctly formed and compacted, then yes it will fail quickly.

[midlifecrisis 4,047]

13 minutes ago, forcebwithu said:

Quite a few of the roads have an asphalt surface, probably b/c of the significantly higher cost of using concrete. Think it was about two years ago 2nd Rd was resurfaced with asphalt. At the time I thought it wouldn't last, but so far it's in pretty good shape.

Soi Pothole is an example of a resurfacing job done on the cheap. This pic was taken just before they put down the new asphalt surface. No attempt was made to clean up the garbage first. So no surprise that within a few months the potholes are back.

 

On the bright side, it contributes to full employment.

[forcebwithu 4,834]

6 hours ago, midlifecrisis said:

On the bright side, it contributes to full employment.

And ensures a steady flow of brown envelopes.

[forcebwithu 4,834]

A couple of pics from today of them installing the outflow drain at the Easy R-Con open sewer project. Looks like they remembered to include a bit of a downhill tilt to the drain. There's two other, smaller outflow holes I'm not sure what the purpose is.

[knortyboy 155]

5 minutes ago, forcebwithu said:

There's two other, smaller outflow holes I'm not sure what the purpose is.

Possibly there to allow air in to avoid a vacuum, assuming it's a well sealed system. 

[midlifecrisis 4,047]

what exactly does the big tank do?

[forcebwithu 4,834]

2 hours ago, midlifecrisis said:

what exactly does the big tank do?

My guess is it will allow stormwater debris and sludge to settle out before heading on downstream via the Buakhao storm water system.

[midlifecrisis 4,047]

19 minutes ago, forcebwithu said:

My guess is it will allow stormwater debris and sludge to settle out before heading on downstream via the Buakhao storm water system.

But won't it fill up with debris? There must be an access to pump it out.

? I don't recall seeing anything like it but must admit to not being up on storm drain design.

edit: Thanks forcebwithu for stearing me to the right question to google. You are right.

http://jtv-cipp.com/storm-drain-cleaning-florida.html

Edited June 24, 2019 by midlifecrisis

[jacko 8,807]

6 hours ago, midlifecrisis said:

But won't it fill up with debris? There must be an access to pump it out.

? I don't recall seeing anything like it but must admit to not being up on storm drain design.

edit: Thanks forcebwithu for stearing me to the right question to google. You are right.

http://jtv-cipp.com/storm-drain-cleaning-florida.html

OOps, 'scheduled maintenance is required'..... Thailand don't do maintenance. If it works, don't fix it, if it's broken, it's too late. 

[midlifecrisis 4,047]

1 hour ago, jacko said:

OOps, 'scheduled maintenance is required'..... Thailand don't do maintenance. If it works, don't fix it, if it's broken, it's too late. 

Chalk it up to full employment.

[forcebwithu 4,834]

Easy R-Con open sewer project now has a concrete top. It's now been about five months for the workers to build what amounts to nothing more than a concrete box.

Since they have openings for what will probably be stormwater grates on top, the idea the smaller outlet openings are for air vents doesn't seem plausible. 

If these are openings for stormwater grates, it seems odd they would have them on both sides of the box.