Major avenues around the Grand Palace and Sanam Luang will be closed to vehicular traffic from Saturday to Monday with only
public transport allowed for mourners to pay obeisance to the Royal Urn of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
The public will be permitted to pay their respects before the Royal Urn starting Saturday.
PM’s Office Minister Suwaphan Tanyuvardhana, secretary of the government’s command centre set up for this activity, said yesterday that Rajdamnoen Road, the Lan Luang intersection and the Arun Amarin intersection on the Thon Buri side of Bangkok will be closed off from 7am on Saturday.
The road plan is aimed at facilitating the visit of thousands of mourners to the Grand Palace’s Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall, where the Royal Urn will rest.
The command centre also agreed to provide more facilities at the Grand Palace to accommodate at least 10,000 visitors daily who will be issued queue tickets to enter the Grand Palace.
More booths and resting spaces will be arranged for visitors inside the vast compound.
Authorities may also consider raising the limit on visitor entry depending on the situation.
Fifteen medical stations would be on hand to attend to any health needs.
In case of emergency, the Navy would cooperate to transport patients via waterways to nearby hospitals.

Donations welcome
Donations of food, beverages and other necessities are requested with ready-to-eat meals and dried foods preferred.
Those wishing to offer freshly cooked foods are welcome to set up mobile kitchens at appropriate places.
The Social Development and Human Security Ministry would provide 200 tents to shelter people at the Royal Turf Club in addition to the shelters at the Thai-Japan Bangkok Youth Centre and the National Stadium.
To help with the problem of missing children, it has prepared wristbands on which home addresses could be written so they would not get lost.
The Transportation Ministry plans to provide a 400-passenger ferry between Sathorn and Tha Chang piers starting tomorrow.
Temporary parking lots would remain open and public buses
from the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority would continue driving on special routes around the compounds.

‘Don’t rush on day one’
Maj-General Pongsawat Pannajit, deputy chief of the First Army Area, urged people intending to visit the Grand Palace during the period not to rush on the very first day to avoid congestion.
“I know that all Thais want to pay their last respects to the King, but there’s plenty of time, as the Royal Household Bureau is allowing people to enter the Throne Hall in the Grand Palace until the royal cremation, which is several months away,” he said.
On the plan to reserve a daily quota for people coming from the provinces, he said this was just the Interior Ministry’s idea and there were no details yet.
“We shouldn’t worry that people from the provinces will get any privilege, since everyone has to collect a queue card just like people in Bangkok.
“We will help them at Sanam Luang because they travel a long way to Bangkok and have less opportunity to express their condolences to the King,” he said.
Those going to the Grand Palace with a chronic illness should carry a card with information on their ailment so that in case of an emergency, medical personnel can know how to treat them properly.
Those travelling with children should attach a tag on their kids
with parents’ names and contact number in case they get separated, he added.
The Interior Ministry reported that 286,097 people from the provinces wrote messages of condolence to the late monarch on Tuesday, bringing the total messages from October 14 to 3,412,418.
Attendance for the prayers on Tuesday was 313,201, for the merit-making ceremony 52,753 and for other activities 14,815.
According to the Peace and Order Maintaining Command, the turnout at the royal funeral at Sanam Luang on Tuesday was 35,000, while 26,509 entered the Grand Palace to say farewell to the King.
From October 15 to Tuesday, 359,515 people have left condolence messages to the King at the Grand Palace.