National Highway 34 is a vital route connecting Cao Bang with Ha Giang, passing through 6 districts and cities of the two localities. The starting point of the route is in Cao Bang city, intersecting with National Highway 4A and National Highway 2, and ending at Tran Phu ward, Ha Giang city. The entire QL34 route is 260 km long.
Playing such an important role, National Highway 34 has been in a state of serious degradation for many years. The road surface is peeling, cracked, the slopes of the positive and negative slopes are continuously eroded... along with a series of rough subsidence, making the road surface difficult to move.
Not only the damage over time, the negative impact of storms and floods has caused serious damage to this national highway.
At landslides, although there are warning signs, ropes... all are easy to observe when it is still morning. At night, these locations pose many potential risks of traffic accidents.
Recorded on the sections passing through Bao Lac district, in Hung Dao and Hong Tri communes..., landslides on both the positive and negative slopes appeared densely.
In Nguyen Binh and Bao Lam districts, the situation did not improve when the landslides continued to collapse. There are landslides that have "swallowed" half of the road surface.
On March 8, speaking with reporters, Mr. Ban Ton Trieu (residing in Bao Lam district) - shared: "Going through the road during the rainy season, people are always worried, above are afraid of landslides, rocks and soil falling down, below are afraid that the road surface will drift into the river at any time, people hope that the superiors will soon repair it because the road is too dangerous, especially when it is dark".
In another locality, there is National Highway 34 passing through (Ca Thanh Commune, Nguyen Binh District), the road surface in many places has broken and needs to be repaired. The guardrail system has been swept away by floodwaters for a long time, all the ropes and warning stakes are just temporary bamboo sticks.
Speaking to reporters, a representative of the Department of Construction of Cao Bang province said that the repair of newly arising landslides depends on the policy from the Ministry of Construction. Regarding some sections of the route included in the repair plan, the Department of Transport (now the Department of Construction of Cao Bang province) and contractors are continuing to implement.
According to research, in the Road Network Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050 in Decision No. 1454/QD-TTg dated September 1, 2021 of the Prime Minister, National Highway 34 was included in the planning by the Ministry of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction) with a length of about 265km (the section passing through Cao Bang province is about 193km long), level IV scale, 2-4 lanes.
However, according to the Ministry's medium-term public investment plan for the period 2021-2025 approved by the National Assembly in Resolution No. 29/2021/QH15 dated July 28, 2021, it is not possible to balance the capital allocation for this national route. In the immediate future, the priority will be maintenance and repair to ensure convenient travel and transportation conditions for people and businesses in the area.
