The Traffic Police Department (CSGT) - Ministry of Public Security is proposing to the Hanoi Department of Construction to study organizing Ring Road 3 elevated road into 3 lanes in each direction, not arranging emergency stop lanes and adjusting the appropriate operating speed.
The proposal was made to find solutions to improve the operation efficiency of roads that are frequently under great pressure. According to the Traffic Police Department, the traffic volume on Thanh Tri bridge and elevated Ring Road 3 is currently about 122,606 vehicles/day and night, nearly 8.1 times the designed traffic volume. Regularly moving on Ring Road 3, Mr. Hoang Nam (Phu Dien, Hanoi) said that researching solutions to reduce congestion is necessary as the number of vehicles is increasing.
Talking to PV of Lao Dong Newspaper, Dr. Vu Quang Huy - lecturer of Road - Airport Department, Faculty of Engineering and Environment, University of Transport - said that the option of adding one more lane needs to be placed in the overall problem of traffic, safety and operational capacity. According to Dr. Vu Quang Huy, the ring road plays a role in connecting radial axes, distributing traffic flow, helping vehicles that do not need to enter the central area to circulate in a bypass direction.
For roads with high technical standards, the exploitation structure not only includes lanes but also items serving safety and handling arising situations.
The emergency stop lane is an important backup space for vehicles in distress, and also supports rescue and relief forces and manages the access route to the scene when necessary" - Dr. Vu Quang Huy shared. From this perspective, he believes that it is necessary to carefully assess the plan to convert the emergency stop lane into a regular traffic lane. In particular, with the elevated Ring Road 3 with high traffic volume, when an incident occurs, the lack of space to separate the distressed vehicle from the traffic flow can affect the handling ability.
This is a balancing problem between improving travel capacity and ensuring the ability to respond and handle incidents of the route" - Dr. Vu Quang Huy analyzed.
Dr. Vu Quang Huy also noted the risk of bottlenecks shifting when increasing from 2 to 3 lanes.
Although traffic capacity on the main route may be improved, downstream branches and the road network below need to be studied synchronously to avoid congestion shifting to the entry and exit areas. According to him, when the main route brings more vehicles to the exits but the infrastructure below does not meet the needs, traffic pressure may increase at connecting nodes. Dr. Vu Quang Huy said that when Ring Road 4 - Capital Region is completed and put into operation from 2027, a part of the inter-regional and transit vehicle flow may have more travel options, contributing to redistributing traffic on the regional traffic network.
