Decoding the cause of traffic congestion in Vinh city
(Baonghean.vn) - In the process of urbanization, Vinh City has to face two eternal urban problems at the same time: traffic congestion during rush hours and flooding during heavy rains. To solve this situation, Vinh City has been taking initial measures.
Traffic jams recur
The reason we mention the traffic jam and consider it a recurrence is because a few years ago, when the Central Bus Station had not yet relocated, traffic jams often occurred during rush hours on Le Hong Phong Street (in front of Hoa Sen Kindergarten), Le Loi Street going to Ly Thuong Kiet Street or Le Hong Phong Street or Quang Trung Street and going to Nguyen Thai Hoc Street or Dinh Cong Trang Street, Ngu Hai Street.
However, after moving the Central Bus Station to the Northern Vinh Bus Station and along with some traffic flow solutions and renovating the right turn before red lights at some intersections, traffic congestion has decreased in recent years.
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| Traffic jams occur continuously in Vinh when it rains. Photo courtesy of Quang An |
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| Nghe An has more than 130,000 cars, of which 70% are concentrated in Vinh city. Photo courtesy of Quang An |
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| Ho Tung Mau Street is often congested during rush hour. Photo courtesy of Tien Hung |
In addition to the increase in the number of vehicles, traffic jams are also caused by the lack of compliance of drivers. Although schools have reminded and even posted signs asking parents not to stop, park or turn around near the school gate, some parents have not strictly complied, leading to congestion during rush hour.
On the other hand, most of the traffic light clusters in Vinh city were invested for decades so they are seriously damaged but there is no budget for regular repairs or replacement equipment. Every time it rains, the traffic light clusters often have problems, losing traffic signals so vehicles go their own way. Traffic officers have a hard time guiding and directing traffic but the efficiency is not high.
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| During rush hour, traffic participants in Vinh city often face traffic congestion at school gates. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
How to reduce traffic jam?
Faced with the above situation, objectively speaking, during the peak traffic safety month (September every year), the province and city have a peak period of propaganda and mobilization to ensure traffic safety and reduce congestion.
In fact, to reduce traffic congestion, in 2019, the City People's Committee invested more than 10 billion VND to renovate sidewalks, make parking bays, and stop cars on 3 streets: Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Le Mao and Le Hong Phong; at the same time, asked for permission from the Road Management Department 2 to cut flower beds and trees on Tran Phu Street (and soon Phan Dinh Phung Street) to create more land for traffic; open some right turns before traffic lights...
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| Workers are constructing a project to trim the boulevards, plant flowers and ornamental plants on both sides of Tran Phu Street, and build a new median strip on Tran Phu Street to reduce traffic congestion. Photo: Tran Phu |
In addition, while there is no funding, to reduce traffic congestion and limit cars stopping and parking on the street, Vinh City has organized the painting and marking of sidewalks on some streets to allow cars to stop and park on the sidewalk; to limit the prohibition of cars stopping and parking to the maximum extent, in order to create favorable conditions for people to do business.
However, currently, due to the rapid increase in the number of personal vehicles and the lack of investment and improvement in the traffic light system, traffic jams are becoming more and more common. Faced with this urgent situation, the City People's Committee has directed the Vinh City Police to mobilize hundreds of officers and soldiers to be present at intersections during rush hours to guide traffic flow; at the same time, assigned the Vinh City Police to develop a project to handle and reduce traffic jams in the area.
 Traffic police regulate safe vehicle movement in heavy rain on September 18, 2020 at the Hai Quan roundabout, Vinh City. Photo courtesy of Quang An |
Based on the assignment of the City People's Committee, Vinh City Police is currently in the process of developing a project. Basically, the spirit of the project still follows the proposals of the leaders of Vinh City Police in previous meetings with the leaders of the city and province, which is to build a number of overpasses according to the planning at key intersections and continue to invest funds to cut sidewalks, make bays, and park cars on the streets.
Currently, according to a survey by Vinh City Police, there are 37 main streets with sidewalks over 9m wide, which are quite wide enough to be trimmed to create bays for cars to stop and park. However, due to planning problems and different opinions from provincial departments and branches on reserving sidewalks for pedestrians, the process of renovating sidewalks for parking and reducing traffic congestion is slowing down.
Besides, to renovate sidewalks and reduce traffic jams currently requires a huge budget, at least tens of billions per year, but due to the limited budget, in the past 2 years, the city has only been able to renovate 4 routes and stopped there.
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| Parking is allowed on the sidewalk of Nguyen Van Cu Street to help reduce traffic congestion. Photo: Nguyen Hai |
The city police are making efforts to mobilize the maximum number of officers and soldiers to guide and regulate traffic during rush hours. However, to reduce long-term congestion, it is necessary to strengthen propaganda to raise awareness of compliance with the Traffic Law for all classes of people; in the immediate future, prioritize funding to build bays and parking on the sidewalks of major streets that are often congested such as Le Loi, Mai Hac De, and Quang Trung.
