Piss-poor: Residents frustrated with drivers, passengers urinating along expressways in Vietnam
Tuesday, June 11, 2024, 15:00 GMT+7
The lives of many residents in Tien Giang Province, southern Vietnam have been disrupted by drivers and passengers stopping their vehicles to pee along expressway sections in the province.
Local residents have erected signboards banning the act and even installed cameras and warning alarms to evict drivers as they cannot stand the foul odor.
Over the past few months, the family of Tran Thi Kim Huong in Cai Be District, Tien Giang Province has suffered the smell of urine spreading from an expressway passing by her house.
“When 16-seater passenger cars stop, many people get out of the vehicles to go for a pee on the roadsides in front of my house in a carefree manner," Huong said angrily.
“Cars stop in front of my house like that every day. I can’t stand it anymore.”
Huong’s neighbors also face the same fate. They live close to the intersection of Trung Luong - My Thuan and My Thuan - Can Tho Expressways.
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| Residents have installed cameras aimed at an expressway to prevent urination but their efforts have been in vain. |
Going from Ho Chi Minh City to the Mekong Delta, the nearest rest stop is nearly 100 kilometers from the city, so drivers have nowhere else to relieve themselves besides the side of the road.
On the 100-kilometer expressway section, a rest stop is under construction but it has yet to be completed.
Households along the expressways have erected signs banning urination and installed cameras aimed at the area where drivers often urinate but their efforts are in vain.
Nguyen Thanh Sang, a driver carrying passengers to the Mekong Delta, said he was sometimes in a divided mind as there is only one rest stop in Long An Province along the nearly-200-kilometer-long Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong - My Thuan - Can Tho Expressway.
Passengers tend to drink water at the rest stop, so they often need to answer the call of nature when they reach Cai Be District.
“As passengers ask me to stop so that they can pass water, I can't refuse them," Sang said.
The only solution to the issue is building a rest stop in the Cai Lay Town and Cai Be District area, he suggested.
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| Residents along the expressway sections in Cai Be District, Tien Giang Province, southern Vietnam have erected many signboards asking drivers not to urinate in front of their homes. |
The under-construction rest stop on the Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway was designed to be over 98,000 square meters and carries a price tag of VND335 billion (US$13.2 million).
The rest stop was envisaged to include parking spaces, rooms for drivers to take a break between journeys, toilet facilities, a petrol station, and other services.
However, there is no expected completion date for the rest stop.
The investor said it was encountering difficulties in developing acceleration and deceleration lanes to connect the expressway with the rest stop, while the routes leading to the construction site of the rest stop are too narrow to accommodate large-sized vehicles required for transporting equipment, machinery, and building materials to the site.
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| Many residents living near expressways have to suffer foul odors as drivers and passengers urinate along the routes. |
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| While drivers have to struggle with the shortage of rest stops and residents are in misery, a rest stop on the Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway is being conducted at a snail's pace. |
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