Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City overwhelmed by post-holiday gridlock
Wednesday, May 03, 2017, 10:14 GMT+7
As the long weekend holiday came to its end, people rushing back to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City brought with them a traffic congestion nightmare at entrances to both cities.
People in Vietnam have celebrated Reunification Day (April 30) and International Workers’ Day (May 1) and are set to return to work today, Wednesday.
In the Vietnamese capital, traffic bottlenecks began appearing at the southern entrance t the city at around 3:30 pm on Tuesday.
A section of Ngoc Hoi Street near Nuoc Ngam Bus Station is congested. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Taxis picking up passengers at major bus stations, namely Nuoc Ngam and My Dinh, exacerbated the congestion in front of these facilities.
Several streets including Ngoc Hoi, Giai Phong, and Phap Van experienced severe traffic jams.
Many residents reported being overcharged by cabbies and motorbike taxi drivers due to high demand, and gridlock conditions persisted in the northern hub until around 7:30 pm the same day.
Meanwhile, in southern Vietnam, commuters were also stuck in long lines of traffic along National Highway 1 and 60, which lead into Ho Chi Minh City.
Large numbers of people had travelled from the Mekong Delta provinces to the southern metropolis, meaning several traffic hotspots in Ben Tre and Tien Giang Provinces were also crammed with vehicles.
A large number of vehicles travel from the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre to Ho Chi Minh City on Rach Mieu Bridge on May 2, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Congestion began at around 4:00 pm and remained until 6:30 pm on Tuesday.
Traffic police units were dispatched to locations susceptible to traffic jams in order to manage the situation.
Traffic jams at several locations in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang. Photo: Tuoi Tre
At Tan Son Nhat International Airport, a representative of the Southern Airports Authority said that the number of passengers returning on domestic flights had also peaked, but added that overloading had been prevented.
Though the volume of traffic increased at the airport entrance, no congestion was reported.
The southern airport had welcomed over 400,000 passengers during the national holiday, the representative added.
Vehicles travel at snail pace to Ho Chi Minh City on National Highway 1. Photo: Tuoi Tre
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