A 20-km section of the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay expressway is expected to be open to traffic, helping to ease congestion and cut the travel time from HCMC to the coastal city of Vung Tau.

When the section is put into operation on December 28, it will take drivers only two hours, instead of the current three hours, to go from HCMC to Vung Tau. The section runs from Belt 2 in District 9 to National Highway 51, said Le Manh Hung, director of the expressway project management unit. The section enables traffic to go in both directions, with three 3-4 meter wide lanes in each direction. The section has a lighting system, green tree lines, and sign boards. Using this section to go from HCMC to Vung Tau will save about an hour compared to using the current route that runs from Hanoi Highway through National Highway 1 to Vung Tau T-Junction and National Highway 51 before heading for Vung Tau, Hung said. The entire expressway is 55 km long, running from the city through Long Thanh Town in Dong Nai Province to reach Dau Giay Town, also in Dong Nai. The total investment in the expressway is estimated at VND20.63 trillion, which comes from foreign loans. Work on the highway began in December 2009 and is expected to be complete in early 2015. After putting the 20-km section to use, the remaining 35 km of the expressway is scheduled to be put into operation in February 2015, Hung said. Upon completion, the expressway will help reduce traffic jams at the entrances to HCMC from Dong Nai and contribute to the development of suburban areas of HCMC such as Nhon Trach, Long Thanh, Go Dau and Phu My.