People suffer through the bridge
Every day, Ms. Duong Thu Trang spends about 90 minutes traveling about 34km from her house in Thach Ban ward (Long Bien district) to her company in Dich Vong Hau ward (Cau Giay district) and vice versa.
During rain or rush hour, travel time can increase to 3 hours - equivalent to the travel time of nearly 150km from Hanoi to Thanh Hoa City. The most "painful" stretch of road she has to go through every day is the Chuong Duong bridge area (Hoan Kiem district).
During the morning and afternoon rush hours, Ms. Trang turns the throttle and inches forward through the dense traffic. The heat from the road and the sound of car horns pound her ears, and sweat drips down her eyes, stinging them.
Behind Ms. Trang, a long line of vehicles were honking loudly. After two years of working away from home, the 35-year-old woman had to struggle with the dense traffic and inhale countless fumes and dust.
Too much time on the road makes Ms. Trang not have enough time for her own work such as exercising, taking care of herself, cooking, picking up and dropping off her children every morning or afternoon after school.
"I hope the government will soon have a permanent solution. We cannot let people suffer from traffic jams day after day, year after year in the Chuong Duong bridge area like this forever," said Ms. Trang.
Working as a delivery man, constantly having to travel across Chuong Duong Bridge, Mr. Lai Huu Phuong (Ngoc Lam Ward, Long Bien District) said he is all too familiar with the traffic jams on the bridge connecting the center of Hanoi with Long Bien District.
“There is traffic jam from 7am to 9am in the morning from Long Bien to the city, and from 5pm to 7pm in the evening in the opposite direction. This situation has been going on for decades, making it very difficult for people to travel,” Mr. Phuong shared.
During rush hour, functional forces such as traffic police and youth volunteers are reinforced at both ends of Chuong Duong Bridge to organize and regulate traffic, but the congestion still shows no signs of abating. Many times, vehicles still have to line up in long lines, standing still for tens of minutes waiting to cross the bridge.
Many bridges are degraded and exceed design capacity.
Chuong Duong Bridge across the Red River, connecting Hoan Kiem and Long Bien districts, was completed in 1985. Every day, the bridge receives nearly 100,000 vehicles passing through, 8 times more than its design, according to the latest counting results of the Hanoi Department of Transport.
Many bridge items show signs of damage and deterioration... causing traffic participants to be concerned about this situation.
In addition to Chuong Duong bridge, motorbikes and rudimentary vehicles also have another option of traveling across Long Bien bridge.
However, over the years, the project has deteriorated, shaken, and the narrow lanes have made it difficult for people to travel, especially during rush hour.
Up to now, Hanoi Capital has 8 bridges across the Red River including: Thang Long, Chuong Duong, Vinh Tuy (phase 1, 2), Thanh Tri, Nhat Tan, Vinh Thinh, Long Bien, Van Lang. Of which, there are 6 bridges in the inner city districts of Hanoi.
In the inner city, Thanh Tri Bridge is also carrying more than 121,000 vehicles per day and night, exceeding its design capacity by 8 times. This is considered one of the frequent causes of rush hour traffic jams and traffic accidents on Thanh Tri Bridge.
According to the Hanoi Traffic Infrastructure Maintenance Board, after 17 years of operation, many construction items such as steel plate rubber bridge bearings and continuous girder bridge bearings cast on scaffolding have swollen and cracked surfaces and need to be repaired.
About 3km from Thanh Tri Bridge, Vinh Tuy Bridge Phase 2 was opened to traffic in August 2023 after 2.5 years of construction, helping to reduce traffic congestion and increase connectivity between the suburbs and the center of Hanoi.
However, after a period of operation, Vinh Tuy bridge also revealed its shortcomings. After a few heavy rains, flooding occurred on the bridge again. At times, the water was half way up the car wheel, making it extremely difficult and inconvenient for people to move.
“The traffic volume is increasing rapidly, while the bridge over the Red River is weak and lacking, affecting people’s travel. We don’t know when this situation will end,” said a driver.
Tu Lien and Tran Hung Dao bridges have no start date yet.
According to the Transport Planning to 2030, vision to 2050 approved by the Prime Minister, Hanoi will build 10 more bridges across the Red River.
By 2050, Hanoi will have 18 bridges to meet the capital's traffic needs as well as inter-regional traffic connections.
In the context of increasing urbanization pressure in the central area of Hanoi, the Hanoi transport sector believes that building new bridges in the future is very necessary to reduce traffic congestion, contributing to opening up a new development direction for the capital.
Among these, the Tu Lien bridge project (connecting Tay Ho and Dong Anh districts) and the Tran Hung Dao bridge (connecting Hoan Kiem and Long Bien districts) are considered two urgent projects to help solve the traffic congestion on bridges across the Red River in the inner city.
However, the latest updates are still unclear about the start date of the two bridge projects above.
Regarding Tu Lien Bridge, according to Mr. Phan Truong Thanh - Head of Finance - Planning Department, Hanoi Department of Transport, by September 2024, Hanoi People's Committee will announce to hand over the project to the Department of Planning and Investment for research, advising the city to convert this project to public investment form.
The Tran Hung Dao Bridge has only stopped at the stage of preparing a Pre-Feasibility Study Report. Regarding this project, Hanoi City is currently assigning the Department of Transport to change the investment policy, from PPP investment to public investment, so it will have to balance the capital source.
People in the capital are still waiting for new bridges to start construction every day, both to reduce traffic pressure and increase regional connectivity, promoting local socio-economic development.
