According to the Department of Construction of Can Tho City, after the city's merger, there are currently 9 key national highways nearly 600km long, along with more than 59 provincial, inter-provincial, urban, district and rural routes. Traffic volume has increased sharply, especially on routes connecting the city center via National Highway 1, National Highway 61B, National Highway 91B and urban main roads, causing frequent traffic jams at gateways.
Traffic congestion has become common in recent years, especially in central wards such as Ninh Kieu, Tan An, Hung Phu, Cai Rang during rush hour. Although there have been many solutions, most of them are only temporary and have not kept up with the speed of urbanization.
According to Mr. Nguyen Dang Khoa, Deputy Director of the Department of Construction of Can Tho City, as the center of the Mekong Delta, the city attracts a large number of people from neighboring provinces to study, work, and receive medical examination and treatment. This causes the existing infrastructure to be overloaded, while the ratio of urban traffic land to construction land is only 7.6%, much lower than the 20-25% standard of type I urban areas.
Traffic routes in the inner city of the city are currently mainly focused on axes such as Nguyen Trai - Cach Mang Thang Tam, Mau Than - Vo Van Kiet, Nguyen Van Linh - National Highway 91B, causing serious congestion at intersections.
The number of vehicles has increased rapidly, the old Can Tho City area alone has more than 66,000 cars and over 1.04 million motorbikes, an increase of 10-12% per year. Meanwhile, the road surface is limited, forcing the organization of mixed lanes, leading to traffic conflicts between motorbikes (accounting for more than 80%) and cars, buses, trucks, etc.
Although some intersections have been improved by splitting the light switch and making a continuous right turn lane, there is still congestion due to low awareness of vehicle owners' traffic participation, still going in the wrong lane, turning without signal, running red lights.
The city currently has 8 important intersections, which are often congested during rush hour, including 3 intersections on National Highway 1 (IC3 - Quang Trung, Tran Hoang Na, IC4 - QL61B) and 5 intersections on main urban axes such as Mau Than - Vo Van Kiet, Nguyen Van Linh - Nguyen Van Cu, etc.).
Bypass axes such as the Western Ring Road, Provincial Roads 917, 918, 921, 923... are under construction and cannot be effectively divided into traffic. The public transport system has not been effective, taking less than 4%, while people still prefer private vehicles, putting pressure on infrastructure.
The development of urban areas according to the traditional model, focusing hospitals, schools, and agencies on the center, combined with difficulties in site clearance, makes it even more difficult to completely resolve congestion.
Faced with the above situation, the Department of Construction of Can Tho City proposed to speed up key projects such as the Western Ring Road, Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang Expressway, Can Tho - Ca Mau Expressway; expand routes such as Mau Than, Nguyen Van Linh, extend Tran Hoang Na, etc.
In addition, the authorities will reorganize the route, divide the lane appropriately, adjust traffic lights, and prohibit large trucks from entering the inner city outside the prescribed time frame. The city also exploits the Ninh Kieu Parking Center, researching the use of underpasses as parking lots. At hot spots, it is proposed to install no-parking signs, speed limiters, and warning lights.
In the long term, the city will re-plan urban space, relocate facilities that cause traffic pressure to new areas, increase investment in static traffic, and encourage electronic transactions to reduce travel needs.
In this situation, Chairman of Can Tho City People's Committee Tran Van Lau chaired a meeting to direct departments and branches to urgently review shortcomings at intersections, light signals, road markings, handle the situation of encroached sidewalks, count accidents and arrange regulating forces in complex areas. At the same time, he requested to adjust and replace inappropriate signs to create safe traffic conditions, contributing to reducing accidents and traffic congestion.
