Phuket’s New Road: Will it Solve Congestion or Fuel It?
The thing about traffic, the truly infuriating thing, is that it’s not a problem to be solved, but a hydra — chop off one head, two more grow back. Build a road, and you don’t eliminate congestion, you merely transfer it, often to an even more congested future. This brings us to Phuket, Thailand, where the Phuket Highways Department is pushing forward with a 10.6 km road, including a flyover at Koh Kaew, designed to alleviate congestion. The Phuket News reports that the project aims to connect Pa Khlok to Kathu, bypassing the choked Heroines Monument and Koh Kaew Intersection. But will it? Or is this another example of what happens when our solutions become the problem?
The planners, like Phuket Highways Chief Somkit Kittisophit, certainly seem to think so, citing the island’s explosion of tourism, trade, and investment as drivers of unmanageable traffic. “Phuket’s rapid growth in tourism, trade and investment has pushed our main roads beyond capacity," he says, framing this project as essential infrastructure to support continued economic expansion. Yet, this framing elides a crucial point: this isn’t some inevitable force of nature. It’s a consequence of choices — policies designed to aggressively attract tourism, tax incentives that favor development over conservation, and a global economic system that relentlessly prioritizes growth.
But the crucial issue is that more roads, while seemingly intuitive, often act as incentives for yet more growth. What happens when the new road frees up capacity? It allows for new resort developments, more car ownership, and more people migrating to Phuket. The demand that was previously suppressed by traffic congestion is unleashed, ultimately creating a whole new cycle of congestion and pressure for additional infrastructure. It’s the iron law of induced demand in action — and it’s not just about roads. It’s about how infrastructure investments reshape our expectations and choices, creating feedback loops that lock us into unsustainable patterns.
This is a pattern echoed globally. In Los Angeles, for instance, a century of freeway construction hasn’t just failed to alleviate traffic, it has actively reshaped the entire region, incentivizing low-density housing and car dependency. The result? L. A. drivers spent an average of 95 hours stuck in traffic in 2022, according to INRIX, a transportation analytics firm. Think about it: every highway has a cost, not just in dollars, but in environmental impact, public health, and the very fabric of urban life. It’s an expensive investment in a model of transportation that isn’t sustainable, and often actively damages other, more sustainable modes like public transit.
The reality is that building more roads is often a political decision, not a pragmatic one. It’s a visible, tangible action that can appease voters clamoring for traffic relief, even if the long-term effects are questionable. As transportation expert Lewis Mumford famously argued, "Adding highway lanes to deal with traffic congestion is like loosening your belt to cure obesity.” It avoids the harder, more structural questions of land use, housing policy, and alternative transportation investments. It’s a failure to acknowledge that congestion isn’t just a technical problem, it’s a reflection of deeper societal priorities.
Senior Civil Engineer Sawitree Sripayak stated the study also considered safety, environmental impacts, and long-term development goals. But what about focusing on the root causes of congestion, rather than solely addressing its symptoms? What about investing in robust public transport systems, promoting cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, and encouraging more compact, walkable urban development? These solutions are undeniably more complex and require long-term commitment, but they also offer a path toward more sustainable and equitable mobility. The road is just a temporary band-aid, in the face of issues that will keep growing regardless. The real question isn’t whether this new road will alleviate traffic in the short term, but whether it will ultimately make Phuket a less desirable place to live, visit, and thrive. Because sometimes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions—and asphalt.
