The road is patched
Living next to National Highway 2D (Hoang Thi Street), Ms. Pham Thi Hang (Yen Binh Commune, Lao Cai Province) could not help but feel frustrated when hundreds of trucks carrying sand passing through every day.
According to Ms. Hang, this road is nearly 17km long, opened to traffic in September 2015 and has had to be repaired many times.
The 60-year-old woman took reporters to see the newly repaired sections but the concrete road surface had appeared with cutting and peeling rocks, sand and dirt at Km 117+900 - Km118.
Although the foundation and asphalt are very thick, after a while they are damaged and degraded due to the frequent heavy-duty vehicles, said Ms. Hang, adding that not only being affected by dust and noise, people are always worried about their safety when participating in traffic.
According to Lao Dong, many days in mid-September, in the afternoon and evening, there were many heavy trucks carrying sand from the gathering areas along Thac Ba Lake traveling towards National Highway 37 to Tuyen Quang or to Doan Hung (Phu Tho).
Many vehicles carrying sand in boxes move sluggishly on the road, water flowing from the vehicle forms a clear streak on the road, causing danger to motorbikes participating in traffic behind.
Many vehicles have been expanded into bins, even into crab containers used to transport sand. Water from the vehicle flows down the roadbed into a large drain, posing a very high risk of traffic insecurity. This situation occurs all year round, causing the road to patch up and loose, causing frequent traffic collisions and becoming a nightmare for people every time they pass on National Highway 2D," said Mr. Le Van Hung (Thach Ba commune).
Oversized and overloaded vehicles destroy roads
Speaking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Trong Tien - Head of Road Management Maintenance Department, Lao Cai Department of Construction - said: In mid-2023, National Highway 2D (Hoang Thi Street) was invested with more than 51 billion VND to repair damaged roadbeds and surfaces from Km106+100 - Km118+765.
By the beginning of 2024, the construction items have been completed, making it more convenient for people and vehicles to participate in traffic on the route. If the vehicle is running at the correct load and not extended into the trunk, there is no problem. However, officers went to check and recorded many oversized and overloaded vehicles departing from sand mines along National Highway 2D traveling day and night. The road is winding, heavy trucks carrying sand are going up and down, breaking the roadbed and sidewalks. The board does not have the function of stopping or checking the vehicle, so it only compiles data to send to the authorities for coordination" - Mr. Nguyen Trong Tien said.
Commander of Road Traffic Police Team No. 5 - Lao Cai Provincial Traffic Police Department shared: The unit regularly inspects vehicles with signs of violating the load. However, in reality, when discovering that there were forces on duty, the drivers " remained stationary" at the water intake points to wait for the opportunity.
Not to mention, sand trucks are often active in the late afternoon, evening and on rainy days, while the traffic police force is thin and makes it difficult to carry out overload.
They even send followers and users to social networks, linking together into separate groups and closed groups to announce points with traffic checkpoints. In case of detection and handling, the drivers immediately call for "rescue", or give many reasons to delay the recording.
"In the coming time, the Traffic Police will coordinate with other sectors to strictly handle cases of overload and overload on National Highway 2D (Hoang Thi Street). The forces performing their duties resolutely handle violating vehicles to ensure traffic safety on the route," affirmed the Commander of Road Traffic Police Team No. 5.
