Ben Thuy II Bridge: Excitedly "welcoming" the inauguration day

(Baonghean)This September, Ben Thuy II Bridge connecting the two banks of Lam River with a length of 996 m will be inaugurated and put into use. The key project of the Ministry of Transport with the latest technology has been completed on schedule.

Construction started in March 2010, overcoming many difficulties and challenges of the basic construction market and harsh natural conditions, hundreds of bridge workers of CTGT Corporation 4, hundreds of engineers of Project Management Board 85, Ben Thuy II Bridge Project Management Board, contractors have actively stuck to the construction site, so that today a modern bridge connecting the two banks of Lam River has been completed. Ben Thuy II Bridge is permanently designed with reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete, with cantilever and bored pile technology, the most modern technology today. The bridge has major items: approach road, approach bridge and main bridge over Lam River with a total length of 3,640m, of which the approach bridge and main bridge over the river are 996m long, the bridge head roads on both sides are 2,644m long; Total investment is 1,259,603 million VND (Ministry of Transport is the investor, the investor representative is PMU 85).



On the construction site of Ben Thuy II bridge.

Late autumn, the sun is sweltering on the bridge. Contractors are speeding up the asphalt paving and construction of lighting, flower beds, ornamental plants and railings. The construction requires a lot of effort, intelligence and mastery of advanced technology; especially the construction of the pile system in the middle of the river, each pile is 58-62m deep, 1.5m in diameter. The most difficult work is drilling bored piles, and it is also the time of cold and rainy weather; the geology is complicated, one side is mountain, the other side is river, the riverbed is large blocks of sandstone. There are beam spans of 40m long. At the peak time, nearly 2,000 people were present from companies 471, 482, 473, 491, Construction Joint Stock Company 525... concentrated on installing beams, using cantilever technology, which means casting concrete directly on the river, while it is 15m above the water surface, just a little carelessness will cause an accident...

For the production team leader of Construction Investment Joint Stock Company 419, Phan Dinh Doan - who has been attached to bridge construction sites across the country for nearly 27 years, with bridges such as Vinh Tuy (Hanoi), Da Rang (Phu Yen), Ro Bridge (Thanh Chuong) ... Ben Thuy 2 Bridge is probably the most meaningful project that he has been present at from the start of construction until its inauguration, because this is the largest bridge in his hometown of Nghe An that he has participated in as a bridge worker (he is about to retire). Sticking to the bridge for 2 years, almost never returning home (his hometown is Cua Hoi - Nghe An but he got married and built a house in Ky Anh - Ha Tinh), in the middle of the rainy night, in the middle of the sunny noon... for many months, the brothers worked in 3 shifts, everyone was skinny and dark, but when the shape of a large bridge appeared day by day, the hardship was relieved... He said: "Many times we had to work the night shift, when pouring the bridge surface, installing girders... the teams had to divide the work, if we didn't work in shifts, all the concrete would be ruined, only when the concrete was finished could we rest, if we didn't work in the third shift, we wouldn't have the progress we have now".

Thanks to his positivity, enthusiasm and high skills, on this occasion, Mr. Doan was awarded a certificate of merit by the Ministry of Transport. Young engineer Pham Xuan Lam - Construction Joint Stock Company 419, GT 4 Construction Corporation, excitedly said: "Working on key projects, many complex construction items, especially the construction of Super T beams and installation of Super T beams, which are items requiring high technicality and safety, I always stay close to the site to oversee the work, remind the construction workers to comply with technical measures, thereby ensuring the requirements and progress set by the company's leaders. I also always ensure labor safety to prevent any incidents."

The presence of young engineers and high-level technical workers in Nghe An and Ha Tinh has solved the difficulties in complex construction methods. Practical training in many bridge projects across the country has helped them gain more experience in mastering science, technology, controlling super-heavy cranes, drilling machines, modern drilling rigs and other types of machinery to complete the responsibility of a large project, worth over 1,200 billion VND. They are Bui Van Buoi - bridge engineer, Tran Dinh Toan - mechanical engineer, Pham Xuan Lam, Nguyen Van Toan - bridge engineer, Dam Quang Phuong - technical staff... and many more very young engineers who have firmly gained skills and experience from this bridge...

Executive Director of Ben Thuy II Bridge Project under Project Management Board 85 (Ministry of Transport) Tran Quang Dan said: “By August 30, Ben Thuy II Bridge was basically completed, the difficulties seemed to have passed. Only about 40% of the hot asphalt concrete remains, steel railings are installed, lighting systems are installed and flower beds are planted. Progress has been achieved as required. This is a key project of the Ministry of Transport to relieve overload and congestion for Ben Thuy I Bridge and National Highway 1A. We have eaten, slept with the bridge, talked and thought about the bridge. Many times we ran to the bridge in the middle of the night during heavy rain and storms, worrying along with the worries of the contractors... Everyone is trying to do their best to complete the final work to prepare for the inauguration ceremony in early September 2012”.

Having been involved in the project since the early days as Deputy Executive Director of the Ben Thuy II Bridge Project, young engineer Nguyen Minh Tuan's skin has been darkened by the sun and wind. Born in 1979, he has been through many projects and this is the largest project in his hometown that he has participated in managing. His voice seemed to be lost because in the final stage there were too many documents to process, many phone calls, many meetings... but the pride of a large project that is being completed makes him still unable to forget the memorable milestones of the bridge: March 14, 2012, construction started, June 1, 2010, the implementation of bidding packages began; three months later, September 28, 2010, the construction was completed due to site clearance problems; and now exactly 2 years later, Ben Thuy II Bridge has been completed.



Ben Thuy II Bridge has been closed.

Connecting with Vinh City bypass, National Highway 8B, Ben Thuy II Bridge will create a route parallel to National Highway 1A through Nghe An and Ha Tinh, helping to reduce the increasing traffic volume on this route. The bridge aims to complete the Vinh bypass route, reduce the overload pressure on the degraded Ben Thuy I Bridge, and at the same time increase the attractiveness and improve the investment environment for Nghe An in particular and the region in general. This is also a meaningful project to strengthen the relationship between the two provinces, adding strength to the province on the path of industrialization and modernization.

Chau Lan