Awakening a hundred-year-old heritage
The railway overpass from Hanoi station through Phung Hung street to Long Bien station is more than 1.7km long, built by the French in the period 1900-1902. The section from Hanoi station to Cua Dong street is specially built. The remaining section to Long Bien station is nearly 850m long, including 130 solid stone rollers, 2.6-4.9m high, numbered from 2 to 131.
Due to the situation of insecurity and environmental pollution, since the 1980s, Hanoi has built and sealed bridge arches, only keeping 6 arches for traffic. Currently, 97 arches are sealed with 2 layers of walls, 21 arches are sealed with 4 layers of walls and 7 arches are still in their original state in the Long Bien station area.
In 2017, Hanoi City issued a policy to restore bridge arches to increase public cultural living space. By 2020, the city will pilot drilling 5 arches, from arch 79 to arch 83, Hang Cot - Hang Giay section.
According to calculations, if the entire renovation is completed, the core area of the Old Quarter can be supplemented with more than 7,000m2 of public space, with an area of about 20m2 per arch, combined with sidewalks. However, after the pilot phase, the renovation of the bridge arches fell into a state of temporary suspension for many years, failing to promote the value of the heritage space.
To realize the Project "Cultural, commercial, service, and tourism space area of 130 bridge arches", the locality is completing the steps to prepare a separate urban design project at a scale of 1/500, with a research scope of about 10ha, the total length of the bridge arch route is about 1.716km.
According to the proposal of the consulting unit, the Phung Hung railway bridge arch street is divided into 5 functional sections. Sections A and A1, from Cua Dong to Le Van Linh, are oriented to develop handicraft spaces and craft villages. Section B, from Le Van Linh to Hang Cot, forms a community cultural and artistic space. Section C, from Hang Cot to Hang Giay, develops a culinary cultural space. Section D, from Gam Cau street to Nguyen Thiep, orients the development of traditional markets and section E, from Nguyen Thiep to Long Bien station, is researched in the direction of forming a public park combined with architectural preservation of Long Bien station.
Expecting to create a tourism highlight
Representatives of Vietnam Railways Corporation informed that the utilization of space under railway bridge arches to develop markets, shops, and pedestrian spaces is a model that has been implemented in many major cities around the world such as Paris (France), Berlin (Germany) and London (UK).
In Hanoi, in 2018, 17 arches of the Phung Hung section were renovated into an art space with paintings recreating old Hanoi. This area quickly became a destination attracting people and tourists.
Ms. Kieu Le, a tourist from Quang Nam, assessed that the Phung Hung railway bridge arches have great potential to become a unique cultural and artistic space.
Having visited the famous Viaduc des Arts "under-bridge street" in Paris, I see that railway bridge arches in Hanoi have no less potential. It is very regrettable that this area has been turned into a garbage collection point or a messy parking spot for many years. Hanoi needs to soon renovate it to turn this place into a worthy art street" - Ms. Kieu Le shared.
Representatives of Vietnam Railways Corporation said that the unit has repeatedly coordinated with local authorities to conduct field surveys to find suitable solutions. The restart of the project is expected not only to contribute to solving the situation of encroachment and landscape degradation but also to create a connecting corridor between the Old Quarter, pedestrian space in the Hoan Kiem Lake area and Long Bien station.
Through this, the 130-arc bridge area can become a unique cultural and tourist highlight, contributing to promoting the value of the 100-year-old railway project in the heart of Hanoi.
