According to Lao Dong's records on November 7, many sections of National Highway 70 (through Dai Dong commune, Yen Binh district) are still littered with rocks and soil, and many locations have eroded negative and positive slopes.
In particular, in some areas, rocks and soil on both sides collapsed, covering the entire road surface. Currently, the authorities have only dug enough for one lane, making it quite difficult for people to move around.
Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Son (42 years old, driver of the Yen Bai City - Luc Yen route) said that the distance of nearly 80km takes 4 hours to travel.
"Landslides are usually at the beginning of curves. If you are familiar with the road, you can still remember the place to avoid it from afar. If a vehicle is unfamiliar with the road, it will get stuck and cause traffic jams. In general, it is dangerous and there are traffic jams almost every day," said Mr. Son.
In the same situation, Mr. Dao Van Minh (38 years old, Dai Dong, Yen Binh) shared: "National Highway 70 has always been difficult to travel, the road surface is narrow, with many curves. The road surface is only about 5.5m wide, including the ditches on both sides, about 7m wide, just enough for two cars to pass each other, but now the road has been eroded by rocks and soil, leaving only one lane, making it very difficult to move."
According to Major Nguyen Thanh Nam, Deputy Captain of Road Traffic Police Team No. 3, Traffic Police Department of Yen Bai Provincial Police, to reduce congestion and reduce the risk of traffic insecurity after floods and landslides, functional forces are regularly present at key locations to regulate and direct traffic.
"The team has proactively coordinated with the Road Management Department of the Ministry of Transport to handle landslides, propagate and remind drivers operating on the route to comply with the instructions of the force to ensure traffic order and safety.
At the same time, when passing landslides, you must pay attention, ensure the correct speed, safe distance and resolutely handle cases of transporting oversized and overloaded goods to avoid causing danger," Major Nguyen Thanh Nam informed.
A representative of Construction and Design Joint Stock Company No. 9 - one of the units currently working on repairing National Highway 70 said - currently the volume of landslides is large so the unit is speeding up the progress, working day and night.
"The problem of repair is also related to the landslide dumping site, so the unit is coordinating with local authorities to find a suitable and safe dumping site. For major damage that requires step 2, there has been a repair order and materials are being prepared," said the representative.
National Highway 70 is a road connecting the northwestern provinces of Phu Tho, Yen Bai and Lao Cai, with a total length of 198km.
The road runs along the left bank of the Red River, from the intersection of Doan Hung town, Phu Tho province to Coc Leu, Lao Cai province. The section through Yen Bai province is about 80km long, passing through 2 districts: Luc Yen and Yen Binh.
According to statistics, after storm No. 3, National Highway 70 had hundreds of landslides on the positive and negative slopes with an estimated volume of over 100 thousand cubic meters; dozens of points were flooded with sand, dirt, and garbage covering the road surface; not to mention many culverts, drainage ditches, guardrails, signs, and markers... that were lost or damaged, especially at sections such as: Km25 to Km50; Km80 to Km109 and Km111 to 149. The estimated damage was about 70 billion VND.
