According to the HCMC Department of Transport, traffic jams regularly occur in three areas including Lang Cha Ca roundabout, streets close to the airport and Nguyen Thai Son-Nguyen Kiem intersection.
Of these, Lang Cha Ca roundabout often congests because of a bottleneck in Tran Quoc Hoan street. Traffic jams in areas close to the airport start from Hoang Minh Giam-Dao Duy Anh intersection to Pho Quang and Truong Son street.
At the meeting, many experts proposed to connect Tran Quoc Hoan street to an internal road in the nearby military area for vehicles to travel straightly to Hoang Hoa Tham street and reduce traffic gridlock in Lang Cha Ca.
However, some experts said that if traffic is organized according the above measure, vehicles will still travel to Cong Hoa street and traffic jams might occur there.
The Department of Transport suggested linking traffic from Tran Quoc Hoan up to Truong Chinh street and broaden Tran Quoc Hoan street from 5 meters to 14 meters.
An investor has suggested building a flyover running from international to domestic terminals of Tan Son Nhat Airport and reach Nguyen Van Troi street. Traffic police force should regularly patrol and penalize wrong parking vehicles while ward authorities should tackle road and pavement encroachments.
Mr. Dang Tuan Tu, director of Tan Son Nhat Airport, put forward a ban on trucks in Truong Son street except those serving the airport, build a flyover from Tran Quoc Hoan across Hoang Van Thu Park to reach Nguyen Van Troi and Hoang Van Thu streets.
While waiting for the flyover, in short term the city should broaden Tran Quoc Hoan street in the park side to reduce site clearance cost and Nguyen Van Troi street at the position near MeKong Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital.
A representative of Tan Son Nhat Airport said that the airport has three drainage directions from the north to Tham Luong canal, the southeast to Nhat Ban (Japan) canal and the south to A41 canal. Formerly, A41 canal was 6-8 meters in width but it has been much narrowed to 0.5 meters in many positions.
Tan Binh district’s representative said that A41 canal dredging project has been approved. It is under site clearance phase expected to be done by the end of this year. Work will start in the first quarter next year and complete by early 2019.
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Tuong, deputy head of the HCMC Traffic Safety Committee, said that the Department of Transport should re-estimate the efficiency of flyovers. The agency’s inspectors have recently penalized contractors of Nguyen Thai Son-Nguyen Kiem flyover and suspended construction in two months. Amid the current context, Mr. Tuong questioned if there is a better solution because the work progress need be sped up to reduce traffic jam in the area.
Concluding the meeting, Mr. Tran Vinh Tuyen required the People’s Committee in Tan Binh district to review A41 canal encroachment and report to the city People’s Committee to solve the issue.
The Department of Transport should review residents’ travel rule in streets near Tan Son Nhat Airport to adjust and rationalize traffic organization. Traffic police must solve accidents when they occur within five minutes to prevent traffic jam.
