Recorded on September 7 at the scene of the fire at the parking lot at the foot of Vinh Tuy bridge (Ramp CV1C branch from Vinh Tuy to Nguyen Khoi dike, Hanoi), hundreds of motorbikes were burned to the frame, lying in a state of chaos, surrounded by a bridge underground area covered in black smoke.
Currently, the authorities of Hanoi City are specifically counting the damage, taking technical measures to assess the safety of Vinh Tuy airport to have a solution. It is estimated that about 500 motorbikes were burned down, with a fire area of about 300 square meters.
Not far away, at the main branch of Vinh Tuy Bridge towards Minh Khai Street and vice versa, under the bridge, there are still parking lots for cars and motorbikes with hundreds of vehicles. In fact, these parking lots have existed for a long time.
Mr. Doan Phong (Vinh Tuy Ward) has parked his car at the parking lot under the bridge since the end of 2023. Monthly parking is not cheap, the distance from home to the parking lot is quite long, but compared to many others, having a parking space is lucky.
"In any case, to keep the underground area from the sun or rain, there is still a risk of fire and explosion everywhere, the unit that looks after them has collected the money, so there must be measures to ensure and take responsibility. On average, it costs more than 2 million parking spaces per month," said Mr. Phong.
In fact, vehicle parking lots under bridges in Hanoi are licensed to some units to carry out exploitation. According to regulations, parking lots are not on the list of works allowed to be built within the land area for roads, including under bridges.
However, in document No. 11852/VP-DT dated October 11, 2023 of the Hanoi People's Committee on the temporary use of overpass underpasses to keep vehicles, the Department of Transport (now the Department of Construction) agreed on the proposal of the Department of Transport (now the Department of Construction) to continue temporarily using the area of 3 underpasses (Chuong Duong, Nga Tu Vong, Vinh Tuy) as a vehicle parking point.
The document clearly states that it is "temporary" but nearly 2 years have passed, the parking lots under the bridge still exist and if there were no recent fire under the Vinh Tuy bridge, many people would have forgotten that document No. 11852 had existed.
Immediately after the fire, the Hanoi Department of Construction assigned relevant units to review the management and use of road safety corridors, proposing solutions to immediately relocate the parking lot out of the protection area of road infrastructure before October 30. The Ministry of Construction also requires localities to immediately relocate parking lots out of road protection corridors before October 30, 2025.
Mr. Bui Thanh Hai - Head of the Department of Infrastructure and Urban Economics (Vinh Tuy Ward People's Committee) said that the Ward People's Committee has assigned the planning room to invite organizations and individuals who are organizing vehicle parking to work, and requested units to strictly implement the clearance of points under the bridge and return the site according to the direction of the Ministry of Construction.
The amount of money that mining units collect to keep vehicles under the bridge is not small, but the damage when an incident occurs cannot be measured. Currently, the authorities have installed a temporary support pillar under Vinh Tuy Bridge and organized traffic diversion to ensure safety while waiting for the results of the assessment and inspection.
According to Architect Tran Huy Anh - Hanoi Association of Architects, a reinforced concrete bridge includes a concrete part and a steel part, the two parts corresponding to the heat-resistant alloy material are different.
"Concrete is a very good fireproof material, while steel is a material with an expansion coefficient other than concrete. When there is a large heat incident without fire prevention and fighting measures, the concrete and reinforced concrete will separate and no longer be the reinforced concrete structure, which can reduce the structure. When the bridge has a reduced structure, with high traffic intensity and load, the risk of collapse is possible," said Architect Tran Huy Anh.
