New milestone of major roads
On December 19, 2025, along with 79 online bridge points nationwide, Lang Son Provincial People's Committee solemnly organized the opening ceremony of the Huu Nghi - Chi Lang border gate expressway project. The event is part of a series of 234 projects and works that were simultaneously started, inaugurated, and technically opened to traffic nationwide, to celebrate the 14th National Party Congress and the 79th anniversary of the National Resistance Day.
Huu Nghi - Chi Lang expressway is the starting section of the North - South expressway axis in the East, nearly 60km long, passing through 7 communes and wards of Lang Son province, with a total investment of over 11,000 billion VND. From Huu Nghi international border gate, the road opens straight to Chi Lang, connecting with the Bac Giang - Lang Son expressway, forming a strategic traffic corridor from the border to major economic centers and seaport systems.
At the same time, in Dong Khe commune, Cao Bang province, the opening ceremony of phase I of the Dong Dang - Tra Linh expressway project took place in a solemn atmosphere. The 121km long expressway, divided into two phases, with a total investment of nearly 23,000 billion VND, is one of the largest transport projects with the most difficult construction conditions in the northern mountainous region.
Phase I, started on January 1, 2024, is 93.35km long, including 2 tunnels through mountains and 64 bridges over the Ky Cung River, Bang Giang River and dozens of streams.
As of the beginning of January 2026, the Huu Nghi - Chi Lang border gate expressway (BOT) project has basically been deployed simultaneously on the entire route, with more than 2,800 personnel, over 1,200 machines and equipment and about 150 continuous construction teams.
The volume of roadbed excavation and embankment reached over 90%; many items of bridges, culverts, and people's underpasses have approached completion. The accumulated output value reached about 4,346.36 billion VND, equivalent to 54.64% of the contract value.
Meanwhile, the Dong Dang - Tra Linh expressway project (PPP, phase I) has achieved a very high site clearance rate, nearly 100% of the route length, creating favorable conditions for large-scale construction.
The main construction packages are being implemented with hundreds of construction teams, thousands of engineers, workers and equipment sticking to the construction site. Many roadbed, bridge, and culvert items have reached 70-90% of the volume.
In parallel with construction, the work of completing adjusted technical designs, estimates and handling existing problems related to housing relocation, technical infrastructure, and construction material sources is still being accelerated by the parties in coordination to ensure the overall progress of the project.
Flash flood night and unforgettable memories at the construction site
Amidst the hurried construction of the "100-day and night operation to open phase I", on the evening of September 29, a terrible flash flood suddenly struck the Dong Dang - Tra Linh Project Management Board area. In less than 30 minutes, the raging water swept away the dining area, the common living area of officials and workers.
In that moment of life and death, nearly 200 people held hands tightly. ropes and tires were thrown into the fast-flowing water, calls for each other echoed in the flood. Many lives were saved in time. But not everyone returned.
Three young officials Nguyen Viet Truong, Ly Le Anh Tu and Dinh Thi Thu Hai were swept away by the flood, leaving a silent but deep pain for the construction site and those who remained.
At the contractors at the construction site, in an exchange with a reporter from Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Tran Chung Tuan, Deputy General Director of Construction Investment Group 568 JSC, said that heavy rain and hydropower dam breach caused the temporary bridge at Km40+850 to be swept away, a series of service roads were landslides, taluy slopes slid, concrete culverts and scaffolding were damaged, and many construction equipment were flooded.
This is the heaviest natural disaster since the project started," Mr. Tuan said.
After the flood, the units strengthened the drainage system, expanded the aperture of culverts and ditches along the route; and at the same time applied BIM and flycam technology to assess damage and quickly restore it. Construction teams maintain "3 shifts, 4 crews", taking advantage of each dry hour to compensate for the lost progress.
From pain, stand up
After the flood, the place that used to be a common living area is only left with mud, broken beds and cabinets, and scattered belongings. Agarwood incense is lit up, as a way to say goodbye and also to keep the warmth of comradeship.
The construction site did not stop. Workers were temporarily relocated to Dong Khe to stabilize their spirits, while reconstruction was urgently deployed. The camps were rebuilt, and the construction plan was reviewed and adjusted more flexibly to ensure safety.
The image that moved many people is engineer Le Trong Tan, his two legs still wrapped in bandages after the flood night, still limping back to the construction site, with colleagues collecting items that can still be used. When asked if he would return to his hometown to rest for a few days, he shook his head: "The construction site is still messy. If the brothers are still here, I have to stay too".
Deeply burying the pain, taking the sacrifice of comrades as motivation, more than 3,000 officers, engineers, and workers continued to stick to the long route of hundreds of kilometers. The sound of machines echoed again in the great forest, more steadily and decisively.
With roads, the border region will be different
Mr. Hoang Van Lam (Nhan Ly commune) looked towards the Huu Nghi - Chi Lang expressway that had just been opened, his voice full of hope: "With a large road, Chi Lang custard apples go further faster, less damaged. People's biggest hope is to have smooth business, and their children have more opportunities to travel far and access new things.
In Tra Linh (Cao Bang), Ms. Nong Thi Huong, a community tourism household, believes that the Dong Dang - Tra Linh expressway will bring tourists closer to her hometown's mountains and forests. "Traveling conveniently, more tourists will come. Young people have reason to stay in their hometown," she said.
According to Mr. Doan Thanh Son, Vice Chairman of Lang Son Provincial People's Committee, this is a strategic traffic route, expanding the development space, creating new momentum for the border gate economy, logistics, tourism and industry. The province will continue to accompany investors and contractors to remove difficulties, ensure project progress and quality, and at the same time focus on social security and stabilizing people's lives in the project area, so that the expressway is not only "open to traffic" technically but also "smooth" in the hearts of the people.
At the other end of the expressway axis, in Cao Bang, Provincial Party Secretary Phan Thang An affirmed that the opening of phase I is a very commendable victory, especially in the context that the project is facing harsh natural disasters and dangerous terrain. This is an important starting point for Cao Bang to gradually escape the "highway away" situation, opening up new development opportunities.
During the 500 days and nights campaign, countless people worked with "command from the heart" on expressway construction sites across the country. They worked regardless of sun or rain, many cases started when the sun had set and ended when the Sun rose in the east.
By December 19, the whole country had completed and technically opened more than 3,500km of expressways and access roads, exceeding the set plan target. In the period 2021-2025 alone, more than 2,000km have been opened, far exceeding the total number of kilometers of expressways built in the previous 20 years.
When the last days of the year close, the spring sun begins to stretch across the highways that have just been opened, opening up the shape of the great roads in the great forest - where faith is being nurtured by sweat, will and even silent sacrifices.
