Bridge on key national highway still not repaired
Tu My bridge is located on National Highway 32C (Km26+500), across the Bua River connecting Van Xuan commune with Dong Luong commune of Phu Tho province. After 3 decades of serving people, Tu My bridge has deteriorated in recent years.
Previously, the Phu Tho Provincial Department of Transport (now the Department of Construction) had implemented the project "Overcoming the consequences of natural disasters, repairing and ensuring traffic step 2 of Tu My bridge at Km26+500 National Highway 32C".
The project has a total investment of 27 billion VND. At the end of April 2024, Toan Thinh Joint Stock Company won the construction package of the project with a price of more than 22.7 billion VND and has been constructing until now.
According to records of Lao Dong Newspaper reporters in the last days of February 2026, currently, trucks, passenger cars, and cars with more than 7 seats are still unable to travel through this bridge.
The construction unit is repairing the upper layer of the bridge, the railings on the entire bridge have been dismantled, and the bridge deck is being dug up.
Below, many workers and equipment and materials were mobilized to construct and reinforce the bridge pillars.
According to a leader of the Phu Tho Provincial Department of Construction, one of the important reasons leading to the prolonged repair time of Tu My bridge is due to design changes.
After the Phong Chau bridge collapse incident, the reinforcement of the bridge piers was required to be more solid than the initial design (the project was constructed about 5 months before the Phong Chau bridge collapsed).
The contractor is currently urgently constructing, striving to complete it before the April 30 - January 1 holiday of 2026.
Mr. Thinh - a resident living in Dong Luong commune - shared: "Because Tu My bridge is still closed to loads, many large trucks have to go around through provincial road 313C, through narrow village roads with dense populations to get to Song Bua bridge on the inter-regional road, which is very time-consuming.
Continuously banning loads to repair bridges
It must be recalled that for nearly 5 years, after the deterioration situation appeared, Tu My bridge has continuously had to be discharged for repair.
Previously, from May 21, 2021, the Department of Transport (old) announced a ban on all vehicles with a total tonnage of over 13 tons circulating through the bridge due to the damage of this project, which must be repaired.
More than 3 months later, on August 31, the traffic diversion was continued to be announced to be extended to 5:00 PM on September 20, 2021.
Nearly 1 year later, on September 10, 2022, it continued to ban vehicles with a total tonnage of 13 tons or more from traveling through Tu My bridge, serving repair work because previously, there was soil erosion in the cone, top wall and both sides of the cone of M0 abutment.
On October 28, 2022, the Department of Transport (old) allowed traffic to be restored through Tu My bridge.
After the Phong Chau bridge collapse incident on September 9, 2024, the Department of Transport (old) issued a document notifying the limit on vehicles passing through Tu My bridge and Trung Ha bridge (crossing the Da River, on National Highway 32), the reason is because they are under repair.
After many months of construction, from January 21, 2025 (until now), the Department of Transport (old) announced allowing passenger cars with 7 seats or less to travel through Tu My bridge, with a maximum speed of 40km/h.
For cars with more than 7 seats traveling in the direction of old Cam Khe district to old Tam Nong district and vice versa, they will have to go around Song Bua bridge at Km4+323 inter-regional road, about 3.5km from Tu My bridge in the opposite direction upstream of the Bua River.
