Suffering from traffic jams
Living in Long Bien district and working in Hoan Kiem district, Mr. Le Huy Khoa (35 years old) only has 2 options to drive home, either via Chuong Duong or Vinh Tuy bridge.
Leaving the office at rush hour, Mr. Khoa said that no matter which way he went, he had to "struggle with traffic jams". Chuong Duong Bridge was overloaded 8 times beyond its design capacity, and heading towards Vinh Tuy Bridge, he was "stuck" at the Nguyen Khoi - Tran Khat Chan intersection and the Nguyen Khoi - Minh Khai intersection.
"The way home is only about 7km but sometimes it takes more than 1 hour because of traffic jams, it's so miserable" - Mr. Khoa said.
Lao Dong's records in recent days show that a dense stream of vehicles lined up on Tran Nhat Duat Street (Hoan Kiem District) heading towards the access road to Chuong Duong Bridge.
At times, the congestion lasted about 500m. Congestion also occurred in the opposite direction.
On Nguyen Khoi Street from the center of Hanoi to Vinh Tuy Bridge, traffic density is always high, making traffic pressure in this area even more serious, especially during rush hour every day.
During rush hour, the intersections of Nguyen Khoi - Tran Khat Chan and Nguyen Khoi - Minh Khai become "hot spots" for traffic jams. Adults and children are tired of the traffic jams.
Although the traffic police force has been increased to carry out traffic flow and regulation, the congestion situation still shows no signs of cooling down.
"I have heard about the Tran Hung Dao bridge project for a long time but construction has not started yet, while people have to struggle with traffic jams and dust every day" - said Mr. Nguyen Huy Bang (32 years old, Long Bien district).
Urgent construction of Tran Hung Dao bridge
According to the Hanoi Capital Transport Planning to 2030, with a vision to 2050 approved by the Prime Minister, Tran Hung Dao Bridge is oriented to be one of 18 road projects crossing the Red River in the Hanoi area.
According to the approved architectural plan, the project has a length and access road of about 6.5km. The starting point is at the intersection of Tran Hung Dao - Tran Thanh Tong - Le Thanh Tong (Hoan Kiem and Hai Ba Trung districts), the end point is at the intersection of Vu Duc Thuan street (Long Bien district).
A representative of the Hanoi Department of Transport (GTVT) said that Tran Hung Dao Bridge is a special internal bridge, connecting the historic inner city area with Long Bien district. Therefore, the project plays a very important role, especially in the context of increasing traffic volume as it is today.
The Hanoi Department of Transport will prepare a pre-feasibility study report for the Tran Hung Dao Bridge construction investment project and the two approach roads to submit to the competent authority for appraisal, approval and report to the city in February 2025.
The Hanoi Department of Transport has also proposed and received approval from the city to convert the bridge construction investment project into a public investment form, with a total investment of about 14,500 billion VND. Hanoi has also directed that the investment capital for Tran Hung Dao Bridge will use 100% of the city budget.
According to the representative of Hanoi Department of Transport, the Tran Hung Dao bridge project still has many issues that need to be carefully studied, especially the site clearance work in the historic inner city area.
Experts say that in the context of the increasingly overloaded Red River overpass system and increasing pressure on urban infrastructure, the early implementation of the Tran Hung Dao bridge project is a necessary and urgent issue.
