The Department of Rural Roads will take about two weeks to dig up Sukhumvit Road and stop ground water from bubbling to the surface.
A section of Sukhumvit near the entrance to the Redemptorist Vocational School has subsided due to underground water washing away the foundation of the busy thoroughfare. Locals complain the area is always wet, even when it hasn’t rained for days.
Somchai Panpao, architect and advisor to Central Road bypass tunnel project, said the water leakage is natural and was not caused by tunnel work nor broken pipes. Pattaya is not far above sea level and ground water is bubbling to the surface.
He said the leak has not affected the tunnel in any way.
Rural Roads Department workers said the job would be a big one, as they need to not only identify where the water was coming from, but devise a way to plug the leak. That, and resurfacing the road, would take about two weeks, they estimated.
Meanwhile, pipes have been installed to shuttle away excess water from the area.
