Businesses have proposed Ho Chi Minh City authorities to approve some projects to clear bottlenecks which have caused prevalent traffic jam along main routes in the city’s gateway areas.
Among the worst jammed spots is Highway 13, important gateway for passengers and goods transportation between the city and southeastern provinces.
During peak hours, routes from center areas to the highway have been badly overloaded especially at the crossroads of Xo Viet Nghe Tinh, Ung Van Khiem, Nguyen Xi and Highway 13 streets.
On the reverse direction, vehicles from Binh Duong province to the city have regularly got stuck in the highway’s stretch from Ong Dau Bridge to Binh Trieu Crossroads. The bridge is too narrow to accommodate the huge volume of vehicles including thousands to and from Mien Dong bus station.
The Department of Transport therefore has proposed the city People’s Committee to approve a project by HCMC Infrastructure Investment Joint Stock Company (CII) to broaden streets around Mien Dong bus station.
The project with the total capital of VND1.6 trillion (US$71 million) will broaden the 1.8 kilometer Ung Van Khiem Street to 27-30 meters; upgrade the crossroads of Highway 13, Xo Viet Nghe Tinh, Ung Van Khiem, Nguyen Xi streets with a flyover and collector-distributor roads; and broaden Ong Dau Bridge.
They will be parts of the second phase of Binh Trieu 2 Bridge BOT project invested by CII who will reclaim investment capital via toll booths at Binh Trieu 1 and 2 bridges.
Another hot traffic jam position is the 9 kilometer stretch of the National Highway 1A in the gateway from Mekong Delta provinces to HCMC. This section starts from Vo Van Kiet Boulevard in Tan Kien Commune, Binh Chanh District to Long An province. Motorbikes lanes are measured only 2.5 meters in width sending many drivers to automobile lanes.
Infrastructure Development Investment Joint Stock Company IDICO has presented a feasibility study of a BOT project to upgrade this stretch at a total capital of VND1.89 trillion (US$84 million), comprising VND1.26 billion for site clearance.
It will be broadened to 35 meters from 23.5 meters now with four automobile lanes, two mixed lanes and dividends.
Work will start by the second quarter next year and complete after two years. The investor is seeking permission to collect toll at An Suong-An Lac station after completing the project.
In the southwest gateway, the bottleneck in Cong Hoa street, Tan Binh district has tired office workers attempting to reach center areas.
Routes linking An Suong Crossroads up to intersections Cong Hoa-Truong Chinh, Truong Chinh-Tan Ky Tan Quy and Truong Chinh-Au Co have been seriously jammed. Vehicles nearly stand still or move very slowly during peak time.
Similar condition has occurred at Go May Crossroads where the National Highway 1A, Le Trong Tan and Nguyen Thi Tu streets meet together in Binh Tan District. This is the main route of Vinh Loc Industrial Park with a high volume of vehicles but the narrow Nguyen Thi Tu street has been encroached by many residents for their businesses.
So a project has been passed to enlarge a 700 meter long bottleneck from Le Trong Tan street to Ong Bung Bridge to six lanes next year. This will help ease traffic pressure on Truong Chinh street and An Suong intersection.
