Pattaya seemed to adjust well to the imposition of one-way streets east of Sukhumvit Road as work began on the Central Road bypass tunnel.
Traffic through Jan. 31 appeared to only be affected during morning and evening rush hours, although Sukhumvit intersections with North, Central, and South Roads, as well as Soi Pornprapanimit remained consistently backed up.
Five meters – 1 and a half lanes – bordering Sukhumvit’s center median are closed to traffic from the Boonthavorn shop to Soi Wat Boonsampan in the initial stage of construction. Parking is banned in the construction zone while work is in progress and traffic from North Pattaya and Highway 7 cannot turn right on to Central Pattaya Road. Likewise, traffic from South Pattaya will be barred from turning right onto Pornprapanimit Road.
Traffic is beginning to build up on Sukhumvit, especially during rush hours, during construction of the underground tunnel.
The prohibitions were put in place to force drivers to use railway road instead.
For Soi Nernplabwan and So Pornprapanimit, traffic lanes on each street will be made one-way, going eastbound. One-way traffic westbound will be enforced on Soi Wat Boonsampan and Soi Khao Talo.
Since the start of the one-way system, officials have tweaked the traffic-management plan.
On the east side of the railway parallel road, traffic will be divided into three lanes from the motorway intersection to Soi Tanman-Thoonglom (Sukhumvit 89) with these conditions: No parking along the road, no vehicles allowed heavier than 20 tons, except passenger buses and U-turns will be allowed at Soi Nernplabwan. A delivery lane for the Nernplabwan wet market also will be set up.
Finally, all directions and U-turns can be made at Soi Khao Talo.
On the west side, traffic will be divided into two lanes, with these conditions: No right turn into Soi Nernplabwan, no left turns onto either Nernplabwan or Soi Pornprapanimit, and all directions and U-turns are possible at the Pornprapanimit and Boonsampan intersections. The same no-parking and heavy-vehicle restrictions apply on the west side as well.
