For those of you who were here in th 1990s what do you remember about the condition of the streets? I recall only four streets being properly surfaced/sealed (and maintained somewhat). All other streets were dirt/gravel (mostly hard packed dirt) and full of huge potholes. Nothing like today if I recall correctly.

wolfcreek wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2020 8:05 pm For those of you who were here in th 1990s what do you remember about the condition of the streets? I recall only four streets being properly surfaced/sealed (and maintained somewhat). All other streets were dirt/gravel (mostly hard packed dirt) and full of huge potholes. Nothing like today if I recall correctly.

Phnom Penh was a small place compared to what it is now. There were rice fields between Phnom Penh and the airport.

Street 102 was dirt and was sealed in 2007 when I lived in that street.

wolfcreek wrote: ↑Sat Jul 04, 2020 8:05 pm For those of you who were here in th 1990s what do you remember about the condition of the streets? I recall only four streets being properly surfaced/sealed (and maintained somewhat). All other streets were dirt/gravel (mostly hard packed dirt) and full of huge potholes. Nothing like today if I recall correctly.

Below is a photo that @Kung-fu Hillbilly used in one of his posts back in May. I saved a copy of that pic because it reminded me of how the streets were when I arrived in Phnom Penh in 1999.



As shown, the smaller streets were unsealed and during the rainy season would turn into a muddy mess. That street above is in relatively good condition as it is mainly flat. The vast majority of roads, including the bigger roads like Kampuchea Krom and Charles de Gaulle Blvds, were seriously pot-holed from years of neglect. The pot-holes and the way that Khmers drive, i.e. don't drive through a puddle because you don't know how deep it might be, turned the streets into pathways that zig-zagged, and twisted and turned along the road wherever it was safe to drive. Hence, the answer to which side of the road do they drive on in Cambodia, was correctly answered as both sides of the road. There were very few cars so the roads ended up with moto tracks which avoided the pot-holes.

You would be familiar with the Mekong Tower building on Monivong. My first apartment rental was where the current entrance to the Mekong Tower carpark is now. On that corner of Monivong was the Tourism Ministry which I stupidly went to one day to see if they had any tourist info/maps, but they had nothing of use, and I was probably the first person they had seen in years.
The road behind the Mekong Tower, where I think there is now a Pizza Company store (at least there was last time I went past), I'm sure was one of the worst streets in Phnom Penh. There was very little traffic along that road as it had pot-holes that were as wide as the street itself.

On my first arrival into Phnom Penh, in a bus from Sihanoukville, I recall that as you got closer to the city (from a distance) you could see a red haze covering the city, much like the smog covering most modern cities. This red haze was dust from the red dirt that they used on the roads. In the heat of the dry season the roads were dry and dusty. When in the city/suburban area at sunset you would see the sun as a red ball sinking slowly through the dusty haze.

The first traffic light, as I recall, was on the corner of Monivong and Sihanouk Blvds, where I had to walk past each day on my way to work. Walk down Sihanouk past Lucky Market, then in the evening come back again and drop in to the Ettamogah Pub, next to Lucky Market, for a beer on the way home.

from duck duck go

1990

Pot-holes were filled with builders rubble, which was used to cover many street surfaces.

Those four streets were pretty well maintained in the 1990s. But there was no maintenance whatsoever on any of the other streets as far as I could tell. What amazed me was just how big (and numerous) the potholes were. One of the worse streets I can remember is the street which Sharkys is located on (130?). I don't know if the streets had simply deteriorated, or if maybe most of them had never been properly surfaced/sealed/paved to begin with?

I'm following this thread. Fascinating stuff. Pictures are fine but are vastly more interesting with comments from you pioneers.

My first trip to Phnom Penh (and SEA) was 2004 and, well, culture shock would be a mild way to put it. Dirt and gravel streets with actual deep, wide potholes. However, another trip or two and I was hooked.

what surprises me most about this topic is that people can remember back so far and so well!

I visited Phnom Penh 1990 and i stayed on i think street 240 in a guesthouse "something" star a family run business with the stairs so steep and well used the edges of each step were rounded and slippery as, they got worse after a few beers! 2 things that stick in my mind was I had my first taste of lok lak and I loved it! and the sign on the reception desk that said "massage $5" plus a tip for the lady. after my first phnom penh massage i didn't leave my room except for food and drink and I was getting 1 if not 2 aaahhh massages a day. the streets were pretty bad a few were sealed but any where outside the the general township was pretty rough and a few of the seal roads around my hotel area had large potholes on the edges! When I was walking around one evening I was told by one expat it may be safer if you get some sort of transport to get around town! I still cant believe you guys remember so well especially the roads. well done!

The reason potholes got so big was because underneath that hard layer of soil on the top is a large mass of water / mud / porridge below. In front of my place in PP the road once had a pothole and I dumped bags of building rubble, stones and cement which all disappeared. Finally filled in with excess concrete from a construction job.