Vinh Hao - Phan Thiet expressway is more than 100km long, with a total investment of more than 10,000 billion VND, put into operation from May 2023.
After more than three years, road users have encountered many peeling spots, potholes and patched road surfaces.
Patching to ensure safety is necessary, but if today you patch one place, tomorrow another place appears, and then continue to patch, then the question must be raised, are we repairing damage or just running after damage?
Information from the management unit said that the damaged locations were detected during patrols and have been temporarily patched.
This approach is meaningful for the time being, because potholes on the highway are a direct danger to vehicles running at high speeds.
But "temporary" cannot become a long-term state.
An uneven patch on the highway can pose a danger of unsafety for vehicle drivers.
It is even more impossible to underestimate the driver's anxiety.
The patched patches are no different from question marks right under the wheels, why a newly put into operation highway has to be repaired many times.
It is not possible to hastily conclude that the cause is due to construction, materials, roadbed, load capacity or weather conditions without a full technical assessment. But precisely because the cause is not clear, it is even more necessary to inspect thoroughly.
If the cause lies in the road surface structure layer but only patches the upper layer, damage may recur. If there are problems with the foundation, drainage or operating conditions, it is even more necessary to handle it from the cause.
It is not possible to take a new layer of plastic to cover an old problem and then consider it solved.
And, it is even more necessary to clarify which are common damages that need maintenance, which are defects that must be investigated for responsibility, and which are issues that need fundamental repair.
Repairing the top without treating the root is the most expensive repair method.
The national standard for expressways sets very high requirements for works and management, operation, and maintenance must comply with specialized regulations.
If the number of patched points is indexed without tracking the number of re-damaged points, then the quality of maintenance cannot be assessed.
A road of more than 100km cannot be patched with materials every time potholes appear. Doing so, in the long run, the road surface is at risk of becoming a "beaver's skin" picture.
