Vietnam is about to have the largest sea-crossing bridge in Southeast Asia.

On February 15, the Ministry of Transport will officially start construction of the Tan Vu - Lach Huyen Bridge (Hai Phong City). The bridge has a total length of 15km with a 5.44km sea crossing section, making it the longest sea crossing bridge in Vietnam and the largest in Southeast Asia.

The expected completion date of construction is 2017. Tan Vu - Lach Huyen Bridge is part of the Tan Vu - Lach Huyen Highway Project, which is an extremely important and necessary component of the Lach Huyen Port Infrastructure Construction Project.

Thi Nai lagoon overpass in Binh Dinh province (illustrative photo)

The Tan Vu - Lach Huyen highway project uses ODA loans from the Japanese Government and counterpart funds from the Vietnamese Government with a total investment of over VND 11,800 billion. The total length of the route is more than 15 km, passing through Hai An district and Cat Hai district of Hai Phong city, with the starting point of the project at Tan Vu intersection (Km100+891 Hai Phong highway) and the end point adjacent to Lach Huyen port gate.

The 5.44 km long sea-crossing bridge includes 75 approach spans on the Hai An side, each span is 60 m long; 4 main spans, 2 spans are 150 m long, 2 spans are 9.5 m long and 9 approach spans on the Cat Hai side, each span is 60 m long. This bridge has a design speed of 80 km/h with 4 lanes and 2 safety strips. The approach road is 10.19 km long with the scale of a grade III plain road, with a cross-section of 29.5 km wide.

Upon completion, the Tan Vu - Lach Huyen Bridge will be the longest sea-crossing bridge in Vietnam and one of the largest sea-crossing bridges in Southeast Asia. The project aims to reduce travel costs and time, reduce traffic accidents and risks of barge transportation; reduce maritime traffic accidents and congestion in the Nam Trieu Canal; stimulate industrial development along the Hai Phong coast and promote tourism activities in the Cat Ba archipelago.

The project is expected to be built in 36 months. When completed, the completed project will connect Hai Phong Tan Vu - Lach Huyen international gateway port with key areas of the Northeast economic corridor, as well as solve the problem of traffic congestion in Dinh Vu and Cat Hai industrial zones of Hai Phong City.

Yesterday afternoon (February 11), Project Management Board 2, Ministry of Transport and the consortium of Japanese and Vietnamese construction contractors signed the contract package No. 6 of the Tan Vu - Lach Huyen Highway Project.

According to Dan Tri