After 5 years of driving long-distance buses on the Nghe An - Bac Ninh route, Mr. Nguyen Van Long (38 years old, from Nghe An) is no longer unfamiliar with the scene of vehicles lining up for kilometers on Hanoi's Ring Road 3.
"Because of the large volume of traffic, if there is an incident such as a breakdown or a traffic collision, the whole road will be congested for hours," said Mr. Long.
According to the male driver, the most serious traffic jams often occur at the exits or access roads to the elevated Ring Road 3, such as at the Nguyen Trai - Khuat Duy Tien intersection, Khuat Duy Tien - Tran Duy Hung intersection, and Mai Dich intersection.
Ring Road 3 (Linh Dam - Mai Dich section) opened to traffic more than 12 years ago. At that time, the city identified this as an elevated expressway, serving both inner-city and inter-regional traffic.
While Ring Road 4 is not yet completed, Ring Road 3 plays the role of connecting inter-provincial traffic transiting through Hanoi, connecting radial highways such as National Highway 32, National Highway 6, National Highway 1A, and Lang - Hoa Lac Road.
However, in recent years, with the rapid growth of urbanization and the rapid increase of personal vehicles, Hanoi's Ring Road 3 has become a true urban road, congested day and night.
Traffic jams on the elevated Ring Road 3 are a regular occurrence for Le Van Hung (32 years old, Thanh Tri).
Hung said that congestion on Ring Road 3 can happen at any time of the day. Just a slight collision is enough to turn the road into an "elevated parking lot" for hours.
"Ring Road 3 is no longer a highway as its name suggests, so the sign allowing 80km/h is meaningless. Most of the time, I only drive at 1/3 of the allowed speed, and many days the car has to "crawl" at 5km/h," said Mr. Hung.
Director of the Hanoi Department of Transport Nguyen Phi Thuong said that the elevated Ring Road 3 currently has to "carry" 6 times more traffic than designed, causing congestion both during and outside rush hours.
According to Mr. Thuong, in the future, Ring Road 3 will transfer its role as an external route to Ring Road 4. At that time, it is possible to calculate the option of considering Ring Road 3 as a normal inner-city traffic route.
While waiting for Ring Road 4 to be completed, the most effective solution to reduce traffic congestion, according to Mr. Thuong, is to reduce the number of trucks and service vehicles traveling on Ring Road 3.
"The Department of Transport will assign the agency to survey and develop a specific plan for reducing or banning vehicles from entering Ring Road 3 and when it will be implemented," said Mr. Nguyen Phi Thuong.
Speaking with Lao Dong, Dr. Khuong Kim Tao - former Deputy Chief of Office of the National Traffic Safety Committee - said that the elevated Ring Road 3 is under great pressure as it plays the central role of traffic flows through Hanoi.
According to Mr. Tao, although it is a highway, Ring Road 3 has too many entrances and exits, exceeding the standards. Meanwhile, the exits of the branch roads have not been given due attention to ensure the exit of vehicles, making the congestion situation more serious.
Mr. Tao emphasized that only when the Capital Region's Ring Road 4 is completed and put into operation will the traffic congestion on the Ring Road 3 expressway cool down.
"Completing the construction of Ring Road 4 is an extremely urgent task, because it is expected to create new development space for Hanoi and the provinces in the capital region, especially helping to reduce traffic pressure in Hanoi's inner city, including Ring Road 3," said Mr. Tao.
