Overcoming landslides at Cho slope, on National Highway 7
Dog Slope on National Highway 7A often experiences landslides during the rainy and stormy season, causing traffic jams. The Department of Transport is taking necessary measures to handle the situation.
National Highway 7A connects National Highway 1A starting point at Dien Chau town, through Yen Thanh, Do Luong, Anh Son, Con Cuong, Tuong Duong, Ky Son districts and then to Nam Can border gate, with a length of 220km. National Highway 7 not only creates conditions for localities to exploit potentials and develop economy and society, but is also a route to transport imported and exported goods from Laos.
However, because the route runs through mountainous districts, there are many steep and dangerous curves, especially many locations at risk of landslides, causing traffic jams during the rainy and stormy season. In particular, the Cho slope point at km110+850, the section passing through Lang Khe commune, Con Cuong district, often has landslides from the cliff down every time there is heavy rain, causing serious traffic jams, with the potential risk of traffic accidents.
Local people, especially drivers who regularly transport goods through Cho slope, are always afraid of landslides. In fact, many vehicles have been stuck at Cho slope due to landslides, and authorities have had to mobilize vehicles to assist.
Mr. Tran Anh Tuan - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Con Cuong district said that during the rainy and stormy season, landslides at Cho slope occur frequently, with large amounts of rock and soil, causing local traffic jams. Whenever a landslide occurs here, the District Disaster Prevention Command must send security forces to stand guard, ensuring traffic safety for the people.
The reason is that the mountain side is high and the soil on the cliff is weak, making it prone to landslides when it rains. Although the authorities promptly fix each landslide, there needs to be a sustainable, long-term solution to prevent landslides to ensure traffic safety on National Highway 7A.
Speaking to reporters, a representative of the Road Management Department 2 said: Faced with the situation where serious landslides frequently occur at the Cho slope point on National Highway 7A, the Transport sector has had a project to urgently repair landslides at the Cho slope area, the section passing through Con Cuong district, with a total cost of 2.5 billion VND.
Accordingly, the remedial plan has 5 items, including: Conducting excavation to handle landslides; lowering the positive slope with a volume of about more than 50,000m3; Restore the damaged stone gabion row at the foot of the slope; Replace the horizontal drainage culvert with a 2 x 2m aperture and 11m length; Repair and supplement the traffic safety system on the construction route.
It is known that the project is expected to be completed in November 2024. On these sunny days, the construction unit is divided into 2 rotating teams with 10 vehicles including excavators, cranes, trucks... However, the current construction process is still facing many difficulties, because the construction is on National Highway 7, which is in operation, with a large traffic volume, so it is necessary to both construct and ensure safety for passing vehicles.
In addition, construction time during the rainy season often causes soft, weak soil to overflow onto the road surface, causing difficulties in cleaning and ensuring traffic on the route.
In addition, the initial implementation of the project was hampered by compensation and site clearance because the excavated area was located within the garden land of 3 local households. This affected the construction progress. However, the unit and local authorities have now coordinated to complete the compensation and site clearance work and speed up the progress to complete the project soon, ensuring traffic safety on the route during the rainy and stormy season.
