According to Lao Dong Newspaper reporters on the afternoon of December 9 at Phung Nguyen commune (Lam Thao district), authorities mobilized many human resources and vehicles to the scene to demolish the remaining Phong Chau bridge.
It can be seen that 3 large excavators have been brought and assembled on the bridge, another one is supporting workers in constructing the barrier (building the steel frame); other equipment and materials have also been assembled at the bridgehead; no-entry signs have also been installed... Under the bridge, the ground has been prepared in advance.
Here, the remaining Phong Chau bridge has a total length of about 210 m, including spans 1 to 5. From top to bottom, there are still full items such as: lighting, railings, bridge deck, steel beams, reinforced concrete beam structures, bridge piers, bridge abutments.
According to the previous assessment of the authorities, span 5 was tilted outwards towards the Red River (with signs of subsidence of pier T6), spans 2, 3 and 4 showed signs of being twisted and tilted in the direction of the Red River flow; the expansion joints (connecting the bridge spans) were stretched much further than the original design.
In the coming time, the authorities will dismantle the steel truss and reinforced concrete approach spans; clear the lower structure of the old bridge to ensure waterway traffic safety, clear the flow... prepare the necessary conditions to start construction of the new Phong Chau bridge (assigned to start construction in December 2024).
On December 6, the Ministry of Transport approved the plan to build the new Phong Chau bridge, with a total investment of more than 635 billion VND from the central budget reserve in 2024. Of which, it is expected to allocate about 100 billion VND in 2024 and about 535 billion VND in 2025.
According to the design, the entire project route has a total length of nearly 653 m, the newly built bridge is more than 383 m long (to the end of the abutment), the road section at both ends of the bridge connecting to the existing road on the Lam Thao district side is more than 113 m long, on the Tam Nong side is nearly 156 m. The bridge width is 20.5 m, suitable for the width of the roadbed, arranged for 4 lanes for motor vehicles and 2 lanes for rudimentary vehicles.
The bridge is permanently built with reinforced concrete and prestressed reinforced concrete, can withstand earthquakes of level 8, and has a clearance of 40m x 7m.
Regarding the demolition and salvage of the collapsed Phong Chau bridge located under the river, up to now, the authorities have completed the salvage of the entire N7 span along with many components and vehicles; currently, the work of bringing N6 span from the river to the shore (in the middle of the river, about 50m downstream from the bridge) is underway.
