Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will preside over the opening of the Ratchayothin underpass this morning, which is expected to improve traffic flow on Ratchadaphisek, Phahon Yothin and Vibhavadi Rangsit roads, among the capital’s busiest.
The underpass will be formally opened to traffic from 10am today, three months ahead of schedule.
A new construction method was used to build the underpass, which shortened the construction period. It is the third traffic underpass on Ratchadaphisek Road, after the Huai Khwang and Sutthisan underpasses.
The opening of the four-lane underpass, however, has been greeted by complaints from motorcyclists, who are barred from accessing most underpasses and overpasses in Bangkok.
A group of motorcyclists has reiterated its call for a revision of the 2016 traffic regulation that declares most of the city’s overpasses and underpasses off-limits to motorcycles.
Led by Phirasit Chirawongphaisan, about 400 members of the Plot Aek Chao Song Lo group, yesterday petitioned the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB) to ease the regulation.
The group said it was assured by the Traffic and Transport Department that overpasses and underpasses in the city can accommodate all types of vehicles, so it wants the police to take this assurance into consideration and lift the ban.
Mr Phirasit said that since the 2016 traffic regulation was issued by an administrative order, it can be revoked without a court order.
The regulation lists 39 overpasses and six underpasses which motorcycles are barred from using.
According to Phanudet Sukwong, deputy chief of the Metropolitan Police Division 2, motorcycles are not banned from using the Ratchayothin underpass, as it is not listed among the city’s underpasses where motorcycles are barred from using.
Pol Col Phanudet also promised to forward the group’s petition to the MPB for consideration.
Thanaphong Jinawong, director of the Road Safety Policy Foundation’s academic centre for road safety, explained that motorists’ eyesight must adjust abruptly to the dim light in the underpass and again when they come out of the other end.
This can temporarily inhibit their visual ability, which makes it dangerous for them to use the underpasses.
Motorcycles are considerably smaller than other vehicles, which means drivers of larger vehicles may not be able to see them clearly.
Mr Thanaphong added that as cars tend to accelerate as they travel down an overpass, they may become harder to control - posing risks of death and/or serious injury to motorcyclists.