Airport traffic "cools down" after T3 station operates
Traffic in the Tan Son Nhat airport area has changed significantly, especially after Terminal T3 was inaugurated on April 19, 2025. With a total investment of more than 11,000 billion VND, Terminal T3 is the largest domestic passenger terminal in the country, with a capacity of 20 million passengers/year, raising the total operating capacity of the airport to 50 million passengers per year.
Currently, Vietnam Airlines, Pacific Airlines, Vasco, Bamboo Airways and Vietravel Airlines have transferred all operations to T3 terminal; only Vietjet Air continues to operate at T1 terminal.
Because Terminal T3 is separated from Terminals T1 and T2, the flow of vehicles entering and leaving the airport is also reorganized. Instead of focusing on Truong Son road as before, vehicles currently move along the Tran Quoc Hoan - Cong Hoa connecting route to enter Terminal T3, contributing to reducing pressure on Truong Son road.
However, traffic jams still frequently occur outside the airport, especially on main roads such as Truong Chinh, Cong Hoa, Nguyen Van Troi, Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, Pham Van Dong.
In which, the Truong Chinh - Cong Hoa axis is considered the Northwest gateway, connecting the Northwest area of Ho Chi Minh City with the city center and Tan Son Nhat airport. However, the traffic volume on these two routes has now far exceeded the designed capacity. The Cong Hoa - Hoang Hoa Tham section is still a "black spot" of prolonged traffic jams, although overpasses have been invested in.
Groundbreaking ceremony for Metro Line 2, rapid connection to the center
To reduce road traffic pressure, on January 15, 2026, Ho Chi Minh City will start construction of Metro Line No. 2 (Ben Thanh - Tham Luong) with a total investment of about 57,000 billion VND.
This metro line is 11.27km long, including 10 underground stations, 1 elevated station and Tham Luong depot, passing through 14 wards in the central area and the Northwest gateway of Ho Chi Minh City. According to the plan, the project will construct and install equipment in the period 2026 - 2030, expected to be put into operation in December 2030.
When Metro Line 2 comes into operation, passengers from Tan Son Nhat airport can travel to Ba Queo station, then take the metro to Ben Thanh station, helping to shorten travel time and reduce pressure on land routes.
This year, Ho Chi Minh City is expected to start construction of Metro Line 6 (Phu Huu - Ba Queo section). This section is of special significance when directly connecting all 3 stations T1, T2, T3 of Tan Son Nhat airport with Metro Line 2 at Ba Queo station and the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway line at Phu Huu station.
Metro Line 6 will form a large-capacity transport corridor between Tan Son Nhat and Long Thanh airports in the future, thereby significantly reducing the load on the central area of Ho Chi Minh City.
According to Mr. Tran Quang Lam - Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, the city will deploy an elevated road along the Truong Chinh - Cong Hoa axis, the Northwest gateway area and Tan Son Nhat airport.
This elevated road is about 11.2km long, with a scale of 4 lanes, starting from An Suong intersection and directly connecting to the airport area. The project will be invested synchronously with the project to expand National Highway 22 to 60m, contributing to strongly increasing the travel capacity of the Northwest key traffic axis.
Notably, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc assigned the Department of Construction to coordinate with departments and agencies to study and supplement the elevated road from Terminal T3 of Tan Son Nhat airport to the new administrative center in Thu Thiem New Urban Area.
Currently, roads connecting the airport with the center such as Cong Hoa, Nguyen Van Troi, Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, Hoang Van Thu are often overloaded. The formation of an additional elevated road axis is expected to create a fast path and reduce pressure on the existing road system.
Ho Chi Minh City is also completing dossiers to propose adjustments to investment policies for two projects to expand Truong Chinh and Tan Ky Tan Quy streets.
According to the research plan, Truong Chinh road (Cong Hoa - Au Co section) will be expanded to 60m; Tan Ky Tan Quy road (Binh Long - Le Trong Tan - Cong Hoa section) will be expanded to 30m. If approved in the first quarter of 2026, the projects are expected to start construction in the third quarter of 2027 and be completed after about 12 months of construction.
