Drivers can run on the full length of the 55km Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay expressway, which links the city and its neighbor Dong Nai Province, from February 8 onward, when the remaining 35km section is scheduled to open to traffic.

Eighty-five percent of the remaining part has been completed and more than 1,000 workers are working around the clock to make it available for travel by the deadline, the Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC), which is the developer, said. The road is a part of the north-south expressway system and is located in the key economic zone comprising Ho Chi Minh City and two southern provinces of Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, the VEC said. Its total investment is about VND20.63 trillion ($966.7 million), most of which is financed by the Asian Development Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency. On Wednesday afternoon, senior officials of Dong Nai made a trip to inspect the construction process of the remainder of the expressway.

The road, on which work began in October 2009, runs from the city through Long Thanh District in Dong Nai to reach Dau Giay Town, also in the province.

The expressway is designed to be 27.5 meters wide and have four lanes for vehicles traveling at up to 80kph on the section from An Phu in District 2 to Ring Road 2 in District 9 in Ho Chi Minh City, and at 120kph at most on the remaining part from Ring Road 2 through Long Thanh to Dau Giay in Dong Nai.

However, the highest speed for vehicles crossing the Long Thanh Bridge on the route is set at 100kph.     In January 2014, the first 20km section of the expressway was completed and put to use, linking Ho Chi Minh City’s Ring Road 2 in District 9 to National Highway 51.  The section helps cut short the distance from the city to the resort city of Vung Tau from 120km to 95km and reduce the travel time from two hours and thirty minutes to only 80 minutes, according to the VEC.

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