Workers tear up South Pattaya Road
between Walking Street and Second Road.
Ariyawat Nuamsawat
With thousands of U.S. Navy personnel still in town and
high season about to start, city road contractors decided it was a good time
to rip up one of city’s busiest streets.
City officials scrambled last week to ally the concerns
of angry business owners who flooded city hall with complaints after crews
began ripping up South Pattaya Road between Walking Street and Second Road
Oct. 6, the last day that about 7,000 American sailors were in town and only
a week before the official start of high season.
Deputy Mayor Ronakit Ekasingh and Pattaya City Council
members marched down to the construction site Oct. 8 to find out why the
project was started now and to push workers to clean up the traffic-snarling
mess as quickly as possible.
A foreman for the contractor hired to do the work -
originally slated to take four months - said the project began when it did
because the city had delayed allocating the money until now.
The 9 million baht project calls for the replacement of
the South Pattaya Road pavement, as much as 30 years old in some places, and
add new drainage pipes. The construction foreman said crews are using
fast-drying concrete that should make sections available for use again
shortly after crews pick up their tools.
In the meantime, towards the Walking Street end of Beach
Road, traffic is being diverted up side sois and onto 2nd Road, which is now
two way near South Pattaya Road
