Many sections of the highway are worse than village roads.
National Highway 1 runs through Quang Ngai province for more than 100km. After about 8 years of use, this national highway is now seriously degraded.
Over the past month, prolonged heavy rains have occurred in Quang Ngai province, combined with a sudden increase in traffic volume in the last months of the year, causing the road surface to peel, become bumpy, and potholes to appear everywhere, causing difficulties for vehicles and posing a potential risk of accidents.
According to the reporter's records, right from the starting point of the roundabout of National Highway 1 - Truong Chinh through Quang Ngai City, the asphalt layer of the road surface has peeled off, revealing potholes. Many heavy vehicles have to struggle to move through this section of road. In fact, this area has been degraded for many years, every time the rainy season comes, the road is damaged again, and potholes appear everywhere.
Mr. Nguyen Van Tuyen, Linh Dong Ward, Thu Duc City, said that he often drives a car on National Highway 1 to Quang Ngai to run the company and moving in this area is very difficult and dangerous. "The road has many potholes so I have to move slowly to avoid collisions, but there are still many potential risks, especially at night" - Mr. Tuyen confided.
Patching asphalt in the rain
According to the reporter's records, on National Highway 1, from Nghia Chanh ward, Quang Ngai city to La Ha town, Tu Nghia district, Quang Ngai province, the road surface is also peeling quite heavily, many places are bumpy, and gravel is scattered everywhere.
To quickly deal with the rough and damaged road surface, over the past few days, a group of workers working on a truck marked "National Highway 1 Management Vehicle" have used rudimentary tools to directly pour asphalt concrete into the potholes in the rainy and windy weather. However, according to the reporter's records, the pothole patching work was done very hastily. After only one day of repair, the potholes on National Highway 1, from Quang Ngai City to La Ha Town, returned to their original state.
Many people living along both sides of Highway 1 said that the repair crews were very quick and ineffective. The road was "patched" one day, but the next day it peeled off again, wasting effort and money.
On the morning of December 23, on National Highway 1 from Quang Ngai City to Duc Pho Town, many workers were fixing potholes in the section passing through Pho Khanh Ward while it was raining. Realizing that there were reporters filming, many workers finished fixing the potholes and then stopped repairing.
According to the reporter, the repair was temporary, and in rainy weather, the materials used for repair did not have high adhesion. Many potholes, after being patched with plastic, peeled off and became damaged again just a few days later.
A representative of the Quang Ngai Department of Transport informed that National Highway 1A through Quang Ngai province is managed by Road Management Unit 3 - Vietnam Road Administration (Ministry of Transport). Damage on the road has been maintained and repaired by this unit to ensure traffic safety.
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Nguyen Hoang - Director of Quang Ngai Road Management and Construction Joint Stock Company - said that over the past month, Quang Ngai province has had continuous rain, causing many potholes on National Highway 1. Therefore, the company has organized patching to ensure traffic safety. However, due to the rain, it is not possible to patch with asphalt concrete, so the company used old asphalt concrete and crushed stone aggregate for temporary patching. When the weather is sunny, the company will organize more thorough repairs to ensure traffic safety.
