3 key highways open to traffic on April 30 and May 19

Mai Son - National Highway 45 Expressway (via Ninh Binh - Thanh Hoa) is one of 11 component projects of the North - South Eastern Expressway in the 2017-2020 period.

The project has 5 construction packages with a total length of more than 63 km, a total investment of 12,111 VND from the budget, with the Thang Long Project Management Board (Ministry of Transport) as the investor.

According to the design, in the phased phase, the expressway is invested to be built with a scale of 4 limited lanes, a roadbed width of 17m, and a design speed of 80km/h. In the completed phase, the expressway is invested to be built with a scale of 6 lanes, a roadbed width of 32.25m, and a design speed of 120km/h.

With a total route length of about 63.37 km, the expressway has 2 tunnels through the mountain, of which Tam Diep tunnel, the first tunnel project on the North - South expressway, is ready to serve synchronous traffic with a length of 245 m and a scale of 3 lanes for motor vehicles.

Next to Tam Diep tunnel is Thung Thi tunnel, the largest project on Mai Son - National Highway 45 with a length of 680m, is also completing the final stages, ready to be put into service on schedule.

In addition to the two tunnels, the expressway also has two main bridges, Vinh An and Nui Do, with a bridge width of 23.5m (arranged in combination with residential roads).

According to the plan, the project was to be completed in December 2022. However, in mid-December 2022, due to many objective factors, the Ministry of Transport decided to postpone the completion of the Mai Son - National Highway 45 project to June 30, 2023 instead of December 31, 2022 as planned. At that time, the Ministry of Transport also requested that the Mai Son - National Highway 45 expressway be technically opened to traffic on December 31, 2022 and put into operation before April 30, 2023. After that, the project extended the implementation period to June 30, 2023 to complete the remaining work.

Up to now, according to the Thang Long Project Management Board, the bidding packages are completing the final stages to be ready to serve people during the April 30 - May 1 holiday. In particular, the section from the beginning of the project to Dong Xuan intersection (nearly 54 km long) to be put into operation on April 30, 2023 has basically been completed.

Thus, from April 30, cars can travel through Gia Mieu, Ha Linh, and Dong Xuan intersections. Two other intersections are still under construction and completion, namely Dong Thang and Thieu Giang intersections.

Talking to VietNamNet reporter, Mr. Luong Van Long - Executive Director of Mai Son - QL45 Project (under Thang Long Project Management Board) said: It is expected that on the route, there will be 3 intersections passing through Thanh Hoa province that are qualified to be put into operation during this holiday. Accordingly, it is expected that vehicles traveling in the direction of Hanoi - Thanh Hoa on Phap Van - Cau Gie; Cau Gie - Ninh Binh and Cao Bo - Mai Son expressways when reaching Mai Son intersection (adjacent to Cao Bo - Mai Son expressway section in Tam Diep city) will continue their journey to Mai Son - QL45 expressway.

After completion, the Mai Son - National Highway 45 expressway will connect Ninh Binh directly to Thanh Hoa city (Dong Xuan intersection). This is one of the country's important traffic projects, helping to connect the Central provinces with Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The completion and opening of this expressway will help save time and travel costs for people traveling from Hanoi to Thanh Hoa, shortening it to only 2 hours.

The 99 km long Dau Giay - Phan Thiet Expressway (section through Binh Thuan 47 km, Dong Nai 52 km) was started in September 2020 with a total investment of more than 12,500 billion VND. This is a key traffic route connecting Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway.

The project consists of 4 packages passing through 2 provinces Dong Nai and Binh Thuan. Currently, the intersection area with Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway has been basically completed.

The expressway is designed with 6 lanes, a roadbed of over 32m, reaching a minimum speed of 60 km/h, maximum of 120 km/h. After completion, the distance from Ho Chi Minh City to Ke Ga will be shortened to nearly 2 hours and Phan Thiet to about 2.5 hours.

A section of the Dau Giay - Phan Thiet highway has been paved, passing through a vast rubber forest in Cam My district, Dong Nai. Both sides of the road have been completed with barriers and painted lines.

Before the opening of the entire route, this project still has many items that need to be urgently completed.

Previously, due to lack of materials, scarce soil and sand for embankment, high prices, the construction was delayed. After that, Dong Nai provincial government extended the term of 4 earth quarries so that the investor could have materials to build cross-roads and parallel roads to serve the people when the expressway is in operation.

Traffic signs have been installed along the route. Many people on both sides of the road use their motorbikes to travel across the unfinished median strip.

In addition to the asphalt paving of the main route, the Phan Thiet - Dau Giay Expressway still has a large number of items that need to be completed before April 30, such as installing expansion joints on the main route bridges, installing a sign system, painting road markings, installing median strips, corrugated iron fences, drainage ditches, and organizing sanitation and cleaning the construction site.

The North-South Expressway, Phan Thiet - Vinh Hao section, with a total investment of nearly 11,000 billion VND, was urgently completed to open to traffic on April 30. However, due to some remaining problems with unsafe conditions, the inauguration date of this project is expected to be delayed by nearly 3 weeks.

The entire route is designed in phase 1 with 4 lanes, road width of 17m, maximum speed of 80km/h passing through Tuy Phong, Bac Binh, Ham Thuan Bac and Ham Thuan Nam districts (Binh Thuan).

Construction began in September 2020 and the section passing through Ham Tri commune, Ham Thuan Bac district is now being completed to ensure traffic safety. The road surface is currently paved, painted, and dozens of kilometers of median strips have been installed.

Similar to some other projects, the Phan Thiet - Vinh Hao expressway does not have a continuous emergency lane but instead has emergency stops at each interval.

The project has 31 bridges on the main route, 20 direct overpasses, 1 bridge on the route connecting the expressway with National Highway 1 and 5 interchange overpasses.

At the Phan Thiet - Vinh Hao expressway intersection and National Highway 28 in Ma Lam town, the contractor is currently completing the overpass, asphalt paving, concrete bridge deck, railings... to quickly put the project into operation.

According to the plan, the inauguration ceremony of these three key highways will take place on April 30. The main bridge point of the inauguration ceremony will be held at the Phan Thiet - Dau Giay highway section in Ham Kiem commune, Ham Thuan Nam district (Binh Thuan). The remaining bridge point will take place at Ha Linh commune, Ha Trung district, Thanh Hoa province (Mai Son section - National Highway 45).

The ceremony is also expected to connect online from Thanh Hoa province's bridge point with the main bridge point in Binh Thuan province.

However, the Ministry of Transport has just sent a document asking for the Prime Minister's opinion to postpone the inauguration of the Phan Thiet - Vinh Hao Project to May 19.

According to the report, during the implementation process, although focusing on removing obstacles to speed up the construction progress; the contractors have made every effort, determination and determination to mobilize all resources, organize the construction in "3 shifts, 4 teams", but the Vinh Hao - Phan Thiet section has only completed the items on the main route, not ensuring the best conditions for safe operation as well as convenience for people's travel.

Specifically, the interconnecting intersections and overpasses have not been fully completed. The project has only completed 2/5 interconnecting intersections, while 3 intersections (Ma Lam, Cho Lau, Dai Ninh) have only completed the asphalt concrete pavement of the intersection branches, and the connecting route has only completed the crushed stone foundation layer. In addition, 6 direct overpasses (residential roads) have not been built to the required height.

The main reason is that the new filling materials were removed and re-exploited in early April. In addition, there are still some households that have not received compensation and have not handed over the site. During the construction process, there are still some households that do not agree and hinder the construction work.