Vietnam's Ministry of Transport has approved the expansion of a key expressway linking Ho Chi Minh City with neighboring Dong Nai Province, raising its number of lanes to 8-10 from four.

In response to a proposal by the People’s Committee of Dong Nai Province, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The has agreed to commission Cuu Long Corporation to draw up a pre-feasibility study report on the expansion of the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Transport requested the report be submitted in the fourth quarter of 2020 for consideration and addition to the medium-term plan for the 2021-25 period.

Specifically, the part of the expressway that runs from An Phu Intersection in Ho Chi Minh City to Long Thanh Town in Dong Nai Province shall be expanded from four to 8-10 lanes between 2021 and 2030.

Meanwhile, the Long Thanh-Dau Giay section shall remain with four lanes.

In addition, the Ministry of Transport has also commissioned the Department of Planning and Investment to give advice on the allocation of funds for the project and to work with relevant agencies to determine the feasible approach to widening the road.

In the event that the land bank for the expressway cannot be expanded, a number of alternatives such as building an elevated highway connecting Ho Chi Minh City with Long Thanh International Airport, light rails, and shuttle buses should be taken into consideration to ensure fast-flowing traffic connection to the future megaairport.

Designed to connect Ho Chi Minh City with Long Thanh and Thong Nhat Districts in Dong Nai Province, the 55-kilometer Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Expressway is a key route to ease the frequent congestion on other roads and prepare for the inauguration of the Long Thanh Airport project.

The Dong Nai People's Committee previously proposed expanding the expressway due to the high and rising volume of traffic in recent years.

According to the Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC), with four lanes measuring 27.5 meters wide in total, the expressway has so far been overloaded since the number of vehicles soared to 16.5 million in 2019, compared to just ten million in 2015.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!