Build 4 underpasses, propose to build 5 overpasses
During the 2026 - 2028 period, Hanoi will build two more tunnels under Ring Road 3 in Nam Tu Liem and Bac Tu Liem districts.
The underpass at the intersection of Me Tri - Duong Dinh Nghe - Ring Road 3 (Nam Tu Liem) has a total investment of nearly 972 billion VND. The project is 565m long, of which the closed tunnel is 120m long and the rest is open tunnel.
The underpass of Tay Thang Long - Ring Road 3 (Bac Tu Liem) has a length of closed and open tunnels of about 800m, with a total investment of nearly 1,010 billion VND.
In Long Bien district, the Co Linh - Vinh Tuy bridge intersection has an important location, is a large traffic transfer point from Ring Road 2 connecting with other belt routes of Hanoi, and an underpass is about to be built.
The project is built in the direction of Vinh Tuy to Dam Quang Trung street with a length of about 600m. The project has an investment of nearly 750 billion VND from the city budget. Implementation progress is from 2024 to 2026.
In Hoai Duc district, in the period of 2022 - 2026, Hanoi will build a grade-separated intersection between Ring Road 3.5 and Thang Long Avenue with a total investment of nearly 2,400 billion VND.
The items to be invested in construction include an underpass in the direction of Ring Road 3.5 (Le Trong Tan Street - now Hoang Tung) - National Highway 32 with a total length of 975 m and four branch bridges with a total length of more than 2,300 m.
The Hanoi Department of Transport has recently proposed that the city build additional light overpasses at five intersections with high traffic volume and frequent congestion during rush hour.
According to the proposal, 5 light overpass projects will be built at the following intersections: Chau Van Liem - Le Quang Dao (Nam Tu Liem district); Co Linh - Thach Ban (Long Bien district); Hoang Minh Giam - Nguyen Tuan (Thanh Xuan district); Co Bi - Ngo Xuan Quang (Gia Lam district); Nguyen Huy Nhuan - Ly Thanh Tong (Gia Lam district).
Overpasses and underpasses help reduce traffic congestion
Over the past years, Hanoi has invested in building many overpasses and underpasses at major traffic intersections to solve traffic congestion "black spots".
In particular, light overpasses will be built at intersections such as: Tay Son - Chua Boc, Lang Ha - Thai Ha, Lang - Lang Ha, Nguyen Chi Thanh - Tran Duy Hung... Most recently, there is the overpass at the Hong Tien - Nguyen Van Cu intersection, two overpass units at the Mai Dich intersection.
At some major intersections such as Nguyen Trai - Khuat Duy Tien, Le Van Luong, Trung Hoa, multi-level intersections are built including tunnels, elevated roads, and roads in the middle.
In Hanoi's inner city, there is an underpass project under construction at the Kim Dong - Giai Phong intersection (Hoang Mai district).
Started in October 2022, the Kim Dong - Giai Phong tunnel project has now reached 60% of the work volume. According to plan, the project will be completed in 2025.
Speaking with Lao Dong, Dr. Khuong Kim Tao - former Deputy Chief of Office of the National Traffic Safety Committee - assessed that underpasses and light overpasses have significantly reduced traffic congestion in Hanoi, especially at important intersections and intersections with high traffic volume.
However, with the number of vehicles continuously increasing rapidly as it is now, some bridges and tunnels will inevitably be overloaded in the near future. Mr. Tao said that the city needs to have more strategic and synchronous solutions to solve the traffic jam.
Mr. Tao emphasized that the solutions that the city needs to prioritize in research and implementation include: Gradually limiting personal vehicles, developing the public passenger transport network and developing traffic infrastructure.
"Only when the above solutions are implemented synchronously, will the traffic congestion situation in the capital be improved. This is a difficult problem, but the city must set goals and have a clear roadmap to implement it effectively," said Mr. Tao.
