R107 Chiang Dao Road Works Protest

[DavidFL]

Just in case some of have been wondering....they've been at it for 8 years!

Read on...

From Chiang Mai City News;

Residents of Chang Dao Furious Over Road Construction Delay
Jul 5, 2012

CityNews – On the morning of 5th July 2012, one thousand people marched along Chiang Dao's Route 107, protesting about the eight-year delay in road construction.

One thousand people gathered to protest and shut down Route 107 between Chiang Mai and Fang. Construction started on the road in 2005, but then the contract ended, leaving six kilometres of uncompleted roadwork, that has led to an increase in the number of road accidents say locals.

Local villagers tried to solve the problem by consulting Sahamit International Engineering Ltd. The company promised to speed up construction and finish April 2012, but there has been no progress whatsoever.

The villagers had a gathering along the route, demanding to meet with the Minister of Transport. At 9 a.m., M.L. Panadda Diskul, Governor of Chiang Mai, Thanin Somboon, Deputy Director General of Operations at the Ministry of Transport, and Chulapun Amornwiwat, Thailand Parliament Representative of Chiang Mai, joined the meeting to help find a solution.

The contractors agreed to complete construction within two months, finishing by the end of August 2012. If it is unsuccessful, the Governor of Chiang Mai has promised to take the issue directly to the Minister of Transport to sign a memorandum of understanding.

 

[globalgypsy]

Davidfl;280577 wrote: Just in case some of have been wondering....they've been at it for 8 years!

Read on...

From Chiang Mai City News;

Residents of Chang Dao Furious Over Road Construction Delay
Jul 5, 2012

CityNews – On the morning of 5th July 2012, one thousand people marched along Chiang Dao's Route 107, protesting about the eight-year delay in road construction.

One thousand people gathered to protest and shut down Route 107 between Chiang Mai and Fang. Construction started on the road in 2005, but then the contract ended, leaving six kilometres of uncompleted roadwork, that has led to an increase in the number of road accidents say locals.

Local villagers tried to solve the problem by consulting Sahamit International Engineering Ltd. The company promised to speed up construction and finish April 2012, but there has been no progress whatsoever.

The villagers had a gathering along the route, demanding to meet with the Minister of Transport. At 9 a.m., M.L. Panadda Diskul, Governor of Chiang Mai, Thanin Somboon, Deputy Director General of Operations at the Ministry of Transport, and Chulapun Amornwiwat, Thailand Parliament Representative of Chiang Mai, joined the meeting to help find a solution.

The contractors agreed to complete construction within two months, finishing by the end of August 2012. If it is unsuccessful, the Governor of Chiang Mai has promised to take the issue directly to the Minister of Transport to sign a memorandum of understanding.

In the past week or so, they have done quite a bit of paving. No idea, if they will finish, by the end of August, but theoretically, they could ;-) Much nicer ride now, but if you are coming in at night, you still have to be careful. There are still one or two short sections, that are not paved.
As for the Bypass, try to avoid it for now. They have recently torn it up, again. (hopefully to pave it?). So I would come through town instead.
Overall, not bad. I've been on a lot worse roads, over the years.
Kurt

 

[DavidFL]

Finally all complete.

Complete with nice bright safety signs on that one nasty decreasing radius bend on just over the crest of the hill heading North towards Chiang Dao

You all take care out there now.

 

[caveman]

I can sympathize with you regarding frustrations with incomplete construction. Rt 107 north has some bad construction ongoing just south of Mae Rim (but they are mostly avoidable by using Rt 1001 which parallels). Going through mud on tires not designed for such is not only a hassle but a hazard. This notwithstanding, comparing road construction in northern Thailand with what goes on in the West leaves northern Thailand out in front by a long shot. I find construction in the USA and (recently visited) Germany to be far worse. Often there, I find horrible road construction delays in areas where there are no workers! Everything is tailored around the convenience of the worker with no consideration for the traffic created. Such is NOT the case in northern Thailand, where construction workers tailor their work around traffickers. While it is true that the construction on Rt 107 is a hassle, and we hope it's completed soon (especially the construction just south of Mae Rim), some circumspect judgment should be exercised.

 

[DavidFL]

An interesting news item to follow up: now that the road is complete there are numerous deaths on the road.
Such that the locals now call it the "The People Eating Road."

"People-Eating Road' Claims Two More Lives

CityNews - Two men died yesterday when their motorbike crashed into the side of a bridge at a notorious accident blackspot.

The accident occurred on a stretch of the Chiang Mai-Fang road in Chiang Dao's Mae Na sub-district. The men were identified as Pramuan Laikam, 28, and Subin Khuanpet, 19, who both lived in the area. Police believe Pramuan had been riding the motorbike at high speed, with Subin seated behind him.

That stretch of the road has recently been expanded to four lanes after a contractor earlier left the construction incomplete. Fearful locals have nicknamed it "Endless road" and "People-eating road" after a high number of accidents occurred during construction. More than 10 people have died in accidents there in recent years, they say.

The residents believe that if someone dies in an accident, their spirits must remain at the scene until someone else dies at the same place.

Chiang Dao district office and Mae Na sub-district municipality say they will organise a merit-making service for the dead people at Ban Mae Na School on October 31. They believe this will stop the ghosts of those who died from taking the lives of any more residents.
Source: http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=4493

 

[r136dg]

How to enlist the services of the district office & sub-district municipality's merit making services in other areas. ???
Close to where I live there are 3 points within 100 meters that have ghosts always trying to get the good people of this village. 1st point is a stop sign completely ignored by 99.9% of the residents here. This road enters the main road with a blind corner. Because so many run the stop sign (mostly at high speeds) vehicles on the main road tend to yield, most of the time. 40 meters from that point is the Hwy. 99.9% of all motor bikes obliviously turn directly into oncoming traffic to gain an approximate 50 meter loss to do a legal U-turn on the Hwy. 30 meters from this point is a break in the Hwy where U-turns are illegal (for good reason). Many travel the wrong way on the Hwy to do their illegal U-turns here. The ghosts here have become a nuisance & many would be grateful to be rid of them!

 

[SilverhawkUSA]

caveman;301405 wrote: I can sympathize with you regarding frustrations with incomplete construction. Rt 107 north has some bad construction ongoing just south of Mae Rim (but they are mostly avoidable by using Rt 1001 which parallels). Going through mud on tires not designed for such is not only a hassle but a hazard. This notwithstanding, comparing road construction in northern Thailand with what goes on in the West leaves northern Thailand out in front by a long shot. I find construction in the USA and (recently visited) Germany to be far worse. Often there, I find horrible road construction delays in areas where there are no workers! Everything is tailored around the convenience of the worker with no consideration for the traffic created. Such is NOT the case in northern Thailand, where construction workers tailor their work around traffickers. While it is true that the construction on Rt 107 is a hassle, and we hope it's completed soon (especially the construction just south of Mae Rim), some circumspect judgment should be exercised.

The 107/121 construction is scheduled to be a two year project and I don't think they are even a year into it yet. On top of that, this month (October) they are to start a major 3 year construction project on the 1001 at the super highway. It will be an underpass and a widening of the bridge. I expect major traffic problems as these two projects overlap. Great planning. They say the 1001 project was approved in 2009. One would think that if they waited this long they could wait a little longer until the 107 is finished.

Chiang Mai News.

Commuters are being warned that an underpass at the intersection of the Superhighway (Highway 11) and Highway 1001 to Mae Jo will begin in October. The underpass, at the Mae Jo intersection will be 800 meters in length, five meters high and will be two way. The Department of Highways will install drainage, lighting and electronic warning signs. There will be 6 lanes in the underpass and 6 frontage road lanes. Construction will take three years with a budget of 1,181 million baht. Additionally the Highway Department will extend the Pa Tan Bridge across the Ping River to four lanes. The government surveyed the project in 2009 and five public meetings were held on the project.