Traffic jams, flooding and urban planning issues

(Baonghean) Vinh City is a class I urban area, planned by the Government to become the economic and cultural center of the North Central region. However, traffic jams and congestion have appeared on some roads of the city.

Not only that, when a rainstorm comes, some roads in the city turn into rivers, cars of all kinds are flooded and stalled. These two problems seem unrelated, but they are closely linked to urban development and planning strategies. In other big cities, traffic jams and flooding have become problems, causing headaches for managers in preventing and overcoming them. But why does Vinh, a developing city with low population density and infrastructure planned not long ago, have this phenomenon? What are the causes of these two problems?

We know that there are many causes of traffic congestion, mainly due to the rapid increase in population, leading to an overload of vehicles and people participating in traffic. This problem is related to and directly affected by planning work, especially the massive development of universities, colleges and vocational schools, plus the construction of more large hospitals in the city.

Along with that, the awareness of the people, as well as traffic participants has not been raised, the compliance with the provisions of the Traffic Law is still very poor. On small and narrow roads, in addition to the sidewalks for pedestrians being encroached, there is also the phenomenon of cars parking in prohibited places, parking in the opposite direction parallel on the same road, leading to the road being narrowed, causing difficulties for traffic, which is also a cause of traffic jams.

Thus, to combat traffic jams and urban congestion, it is necessary to take measures to reduce the number of people in the inner city to the suburbs. Establish and build awareness among people and traffic participants by imposing sanctions and strict penalties for parking and stopping on the street so that every citizen has the habit and self-awareness to comply with traffic laws even when there are no police patrols.

As for the ongoing flooding problem in Vinh City, it is clear that this is no longer a strange story when the rainy season comes.

The formation of ponds, lakes, rivers, around the city is very important. When it rains, these ponds, lakes, and marshes have the effect of storing water to drain flooding, and in the hot dry season, the amount of water stored here contributes to preventing drought. Therefore, they play a very important role in ecological circulation, having the effect of regulating water naturally.

But unfortunately, in Vinh City in recent years, in order to meet the needs of urban construction, planners have ignored the great effects of ponds and lakes, not respecting natural flows, leading to many ponds, lakes, and water reserves being filled in to build residential houses and urban areas. Specifically, hundreds of hectares of Hung Hoa lagoon are gradually disappearing, and the entire Vinh Tan ponds, lakes, and lowlands are about to become a new urban area...! So when it rains, where will the water in the city flow to? So flooding after just one rain is inevitable!

Lessons from traffic congestion and flooding in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City still have practical value for urban planners in Nghe An.