Bustling streets near Tet

No more rush hour because it's always congested

Booking a technology car from her home in Phuoc Kien commune, Nha Be district (HCMC) at 9:00 a.m. on January 23, Ms. Duong Nghi thought that she would be at her office in District 3 at 9:30 a.m., an extra 10 minutes compared to the estimated travel time displayed on the app. At this time, the driver was notified that he was almost there, only about 4 minutes away from Ms. Nghi's house. However, after waiting for 9:10 a.m., the driver still had not arrived. When she checked her phone, she saw that the car was almost motionless.

Anxious, Ms. Duong Nghi contacted the driver and was informed that the car had arrived at the roundabout in front of the PV Gas Tower building, only about 200 meters from the pick-up point, but the road was too crowded and she had waited for the green light to turn four times but still had not left the roundabout. At nearly 9:20, the driver appeared and was in a hurry just like the passenger because he had an appointment to pick up another passenger in District 1 at 10:00.

Traffic jam at the intersection of Truong Chinh and Au Co streets (Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City)

On the way back to the roundabout area, the traffic picture became chaotic. Tankers, trucks, and cars divided into 2 lanes, stretching from the intersection with Dong-Tay road (Phuoc Kien commune, Nha Be) to Rach Dia 2 bridge. 60 seconds of green light was not enough for 4 cars to get through the road because one car kept pushing another, no one would give way. Usually, this area has had traffic police to help regulate since early morning, but recently they have not been seen, so the situation became even more chaotic. Motorbikes weaved to "fill in the gaps", climbing onto the sidewalk, only about 1 meter wide, reserved for pedestrians on Rach Dia 2 bridge. Thousands of cars followed each other, inching forward, only to escape the haunting Rach Dia 2 bridge, to enter the "calamity" of Nguyen Van Linh - Nguyen Huu Tho roundabout.

Seeing the traffic jam above, the driver proactively "dodged" Le Van Luong Street, headed towards Nguyen Thi Thap and then joined Nguyen Huu Tho Street at Lotte Supermarket (District 7) but could not escape. The speedometer had just moved up to 40 km/h for less than 5 minutes when it reached the "legendary bridge" Kenh Te. After one traffic jam after another, it was past 10:10 am when Ms. Duong Nghi arrived at the office, and the driver had to quickly inform the passenger that he would be 30 minutes late. "I tried to avoid rush hour, leaving at 9 am but still could not avoid it. It was the same when I went home from work in the afternoon, usually it was from 5 pm that the traffic started to get crowded, but these days, I left early at 4 pm or waited until 8 pm to go home, but I still had to queue on the road as usual. During Tet, there were a lot of people traveling, so every road was jammed, every hour," Ms. Nghi shook her head in disappointment.

Traffic jam on Cong Hoa street (Tan Binh district)

Similarly, at 7am, on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, extending from Nguyen Van Troi from the city center to the Tan Son Nhat airport gateway, it was already bustling with vehicles. Although the road was quite wide, in both directions, cars had to encroach on the entire motorbike lane, and motorbikes had to squeeze into every gap in the car lane to be able to move on time. The suburbs of Truong Chinh Street, Cong Hoa Street, Hang Xanh intersection... from early morning were suffocating with dust and traffic jams under the scorching sun of the first dry season in Saigon. Not only the gateway area, a series of central roads such as Ly Tu Trong Street, Le Thanh Ton Street, Hai Ba Trung Street, Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, Pasteur Street, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street (District 1)... extending to Cach Mang Thang Tam Street (District 3)... from morning to afternoon, always displayed yellow and red on the map, warning drivers about the situation of heavy traffic and slow movement.

Also because of the high number of vehicles, just a small incident in a short time is enough to cause serious congestion for the whole area. For example, the crane serving the construction of the bridge girder of metro line No. 1 (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien line) had an incident on the night of January 21 and early morning of January 22, causing the construction unit to delay returning the road surface the next morning, turning the entire Rach Chiec bridge into a "giant parking lot" during rush hour on the morning of January 22. Although the traffic police force quickly arrived to regulate from early morning, the line of cars stretching for kilometers still took several hours to clear.

Minimize barriers and bunkers

Speaking to Thanh Nien , an official from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport said that as of December 2023, Ho Chi Minh City managed nearly 9.2 million vehicles, an increase of 4.69% over the same period in 2022. Of which, there were nearly 934,500 cars and nearly 8.3 million motorbikes. With the current growth rate of vehicles, the traffic infrastructure is overloaded, exceeding the capacity. Especially, at the moment, there are only a few days left until Lunar New Year, people staying in the city to celebrate Tet must go shopping, people returning to their hometowns must also go shopping for gifts and things.

Therefore, the roads leading to shopping centers, supermarkets, and large merchandise dealers are often congested. Along with that, agencies, companies, and businesses simultaneously organize year-end parties and meetings, so people go out more at noon and early evening. At the gateway, the transportation of goods and trading for Tet also increases. Not to mention, during this period, the city is implementing large, key projects in some gateway areas, occupying quite a large area, so it also affects people's movement to some extent.

To minimize traffic congestion, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has proactively coordinated with the Traffic Police and Civil Defense to increase the number of checkpoints at intersections and frequently congested roads to help separate lanes and traffic flows for people. At the same time, the Department has announced a list of roads and road sections that are restricted from construction and digging in 2024 under the management of this unit. At the same time, the Department also requested investors and project management boards that need to carry out construction during the Lunar New Year holiday to urgently provide the Road Traffic Infrastructure Management Center and the Urban Traffic Management and Operation Center with plans and construction organization plans for projects that continue to maintain barriers during the holiday.

For construction works with barriers occupying the road surface, the investor and the Project Management Board are required to clean the construction site area daily, not to leave trash, dust, dirt and rocks on the road; repair and replace fences, construction information signs, traffic signs that are old, faded, torn, or damaged; asphalt, road paint, ensure safety for pedestrians and ensure traffic at locations where the construction site has been received from the road management agency.

Before February 2 (December 23), project investors must reduce the construction site fence to the correct size; repair and replace fences, ensure environmental sanitation and urban aesthetics, and not fence just to gather materials according to regulations, not affecting the travel and daily life of people during Tet. For fence locations removed before February 2, the construction site area must be cleaned and all road sections under construction must be re-established to ensure safety, smoothness and aesthetics.

Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/duong-pho-ham-hap-nhung-ngay-can-tet-18524012423072585.htm