A road will be built on one side of the Ho Chi Minh City-Trung Luong expressway section in the southern province of Tien Giang to end a four-year situation in which residents get to the other side of the expressway by walking or driving inside a water drainage pipe underneath it, according to local authorities.

>> Some favor the sewer over highway for shortcut Deputy director of the provincial Transport Department, Tran Van Bon, said on Wednesday that the Ministry of Transport has agreed to grant funds for the construction of a road that runs along the right side of the expressway, from Tan Thuong Bridge to flyover No. 4, which connects the two sides, in Tan Ly Dong Commune, Chau Thanh District. The department had earlier submitted to the ministry a proposal to build such a road to facilitate travel by local residents. The road will be 3.5 km long and 3.5 meters wide and will be paved, Bon said. The department has also worked with the district authorities on the future construction and asked them to advise local residents to restrict themselves from traveling through the drainage sewer pipe, pending the building of that road, the official said.         Ngo Van Hung, a local resident, said, “Not only me but all locals are very happy to know that a new road will be built. We will no longer be exposed to potential dangers when traveling through the sewer pipe.”

Many residents in Tan Ly Dong Commune, located in the southern province of Tien Giang, have traveled inside this drainage sewer for the past four years. Photo: Tuoi Tre

“There were days when we had to travel inside the pipe while it was submerged with water that rose up to our knees. We know such travel is dangerous but we have no other way,” Do Van Mai, another local, complained. Many people have traveled inside the “tunnel” every day since the expressway, only for automobiles, opened to traffic more than four years ago. Users of the drain pipe, which is 20 meters long and 1.5 meters in diameter, explained that their houses are located on one side of the expressway while their farm land or workplaces are on the other side. When traveling through the pipe, motorbike drivers must bend their upper bodies downward so that their heads do not hit the sewer.

Drivers in the “tunnel” must be careful or they will fall over easily, locals said, adding that if two motorbikes enter the sewer at the same time, one must back up to make way for the other. The Ho Chi Minh City-Trung Luong expressway is 61.9 km long, linking the city to Tien Giang Province.

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