On the morning of the 29th of Tet, many vehicles traveling on Mai Chi Tho street towards the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay expressway and vice versa were surprised when the tunnel entrance was blocked.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board, the cause is an electrical incident that caused the pumping station to stop operating, groundwater flowing back into the tunnel causing flooding for a section of more than 20 m.
HC1 underpass is an important item of An Phu intersection, the project plays a role in relieving traffic conflicts at the eastern gateway, directly connecting to the arterial highway.
The commissioning of the tunnel from February 2 is expected to reduce congestion and shorten travel time, especially during the peak Tet holiday.
Therefore, the incident that occurred right before the New Year is not just a single technical malfunction. This is a problem of project reliability and the incident response capacity of the operating system.
A key traffic item, exploited in conditions of high traffic flow, must be designed with a clear contingency plan, especially with the drainage pumping system.
Reality shows that underpasses in large cities always pose a risk of flooding if the electrical, pumping, and drainage systems are not operated stably, have backup power sources and 24/24 monitoring procedures.
The electrical incident causing the pumping station to stop operating raises the requirement for a comprehensive review, whether there is a backup power supply system or not, and how the periodic inspection process is carried out.
The Management Board said that the units have overcome electrical incidents, restarted the pumping system and treated drainage. However, the worrying thing is whether flooding incidents will occur again or not.
If the tunnel continues to be closed in the days after Tet, when people from provinces return to Ho Chi Minh City, traffic pressure at An Phu intersection will increase sharply.
Incidents are something no one wants, but how to handle incidents is the measure of management capacity. Overcoming them must be urgent, clearly defining responsibilities and supplementing technical solutions to prevent them from recurring.
An Phu underpass is built to remove traffic bottlenecks, which cannot become new bottlenecks due to operating errors.
Before the peak of people returning to the city after Tet, the requirement is to thoroughly repair, re-inspect the entire system and ensure absolute safety.
A traffic project is only truly completed when it operates stably and serves people smoothly.
We cannot let the eastern gateway of Ho Chi Minh City be shaken just because the An Phu underpass is flooded.
