In recent years, the traffic of import-export goods through La Lay International Border Gate has increased dramatically, especially trucks transporting coal and stone from Laos. Meanwhile, National Highway 15D has been in operation for many years, the road surface is old, the cross-section is narrow, many sections are curved, and visibility is limited. Although the old Department of Transport allocates capital for maintenance and repair every year, limited resources have caused the road to increasingly deteriorate.
In fact, this unique route operates almost 24/24 hours, having to carry a large volume of vehicles exceeding the designed capacity. The road surface is peeling, the drainage ditches are clogged, many points have serious potential landslides. From 2022 to now, National Highway 15D has had many accidents and traffic jams.
On the afternoon of July 7, a serious landslide occurred at Km8+900, with rocks and soil burying the entire road surface and the vertical ditches, washing away about 60m of guardrail. The incident caused National Highway 15D to be completely cut off, hundreds of vehicles were jammed, and congestion lasted 3km. It took nearly a day for the authorities to temporarily restore a lane to clear the vehicles.
According to the Traffic Maintenance Management Board, the unit is currently implementing a project to handle 11 locations at risk of insecurity along the entire route, focusing on sections from km6+250 to km11+060. The items include digging tarpaulins, expanding road surfaces, improving curved radiums and adding drainage systems. The project has a total investment of more than 39.7 billion VND from the budget, expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
However, with the current state of severe damage and increased transportation demand, maintenance measures are only temporary.
It is known that the Ministry of Construction (formerly the Ministry of Transport) has proposed that the Prime Minister approve the project to comprehensively upgrade this national highway using World Bank (WB) loans, with a total investment of VND 1,387 billion, expecting to bring National Highway 15D to level III, plain, two lanes, reduce accidents and create a breakthrough for border trade.
