Since early 2014, theTransport Department has placed priority for capital on unfinishedprojects to avoid losing time and money. As capital for infrastructurehas sharply fallen, the city has had to focus on the most importantconstruction works.
Hanoi Highway is the main road for theeastern gateway of the city, but traffic jams have often occurred there,especially near Suoi Tien Tourism Park. During holidays and festivals,it often took three to four hours to escape from the traffic congestion.
However, since the HCM City – Long Thanh – Dau Giay highway nowcan take 14,000 – 16,000 cars and buses each day, transport on theHanoi Highway has significantly improved.
The new highway hasshortened the distance from HCM City to Long Thanh district in Dong Naiprovince from 45 km (60 minutes), to 22 km (20 minutes).
Downtown,three fly-over bridges in districts 10, 11 and Tan Binh at a cost ofover 1 trillion VND (50 million USD) have been completed and have helpedto reduced traffic jams, even during rush hours.
The route TanSon Nhat – Binh Loi – Pham Van Dong has become the largest downtownroad, with six- to 12-car lanes and a length of 13.7 km.
The route cost 340 million USD and was built by the Republic of Korea’s GS Group under the build-transfer (BT) model.
Accordingto an estimate from the municipal Transport Department, around 40percent of means of transport from the neighbouring province of BinhDuong travels into HCM City through this route.
It has helped toreduce traffic pressure on National Road No 13, which links Binh Duongprovince with HCM City via Binh Thanh district.
The second phaseof the route will be finished by the end of this year. It extends fromBinh Trieu to Linh Xuan intersection in Thu Duc district.
When the route is completed, it will closely link HCM City with the two neighbouring provinces of Dong Nai and Binh Duong.
Inorder to reduce traffic overload and limit accidents, the city wants toinvest in a completed belt road from Phu My Bridge in District 7 toRach Chiec Bridge in District 9 at a length of 9.4 km and width of 67mwith seven new bridges.
The belt road is expected to create morefavourable conditions for transport into Cat Lai port as heavy truckswill be able to use the road.
Two other important projects at thewestern gateway of the city are provincial road No 10 and No 10B, whichwill be completed later this year after a delay of several years.
Expansionfor provincial road No 10 from the Tan Tao Bridge in Binh Chanhdistrict to Xang Bridge, next to Long An province, with a length of 8km, began in late 2008. Due to delayed ground clearance, the project hasnot been completed.
A similar situation has occurred toProvincial Road No 10B, 6km long, from Ten Lua Road in Binh Tandistrict. It links with Provincial Road No 10.
The road willlink HCM City with Long An and other Mekong Delta provinces as well asconnect to industrial parks in Duc Hoa and Duc Hue districts in Long Anprovince to the city's Le Minh Xuan and Tan Tao industrial parks.
Themunicipal Transport Department has said that these two projects wereimportant and have received a great deal of capital as well as groundcompensation. The target is completion at the end of this year.
Provincialroads No 10 and 10B are expected to reduce traffic pressure on NationalHighway No 1A through Binh Chanh district and shorten the time totransport commodities between industrial parks in HCM City and Long Anprovince.
Though some construction works are small, they are veryimportant. For example, the 700m long Thanh Da Bridge will be the onlyway for all of the residents on the Thanh Da peninsula to connect toother places.
Another smaller but important project is theintersection before National University in HCM City. The work is 1.8 kmlong, extending from the gate of the Suoi Tien Tourism Park to Dong NaiBridge.-VNA