Major expressways to be built this year

The National Assembly last month approved the construction of 12 North-South Expressway sections totaling 729 kilometers.

The 2,000-kilometer road will run from the far northern province of Lang Son with the southernmost province of Ca Mau.

The 12 sections have a total price tag of VND147 trillion ($6.49 billion) and are funded by the government.

Construction of the 93-kilometer Dong Dang – Tra Linh Expressway between Lang Son and Cao Bang provinces is set to begin later this year.

It will cost VND20.9 trillion, have four lanes and a speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour, and will be extended by another 22 kilometers to the border at Tra Linh after 2025.

It will halve the travel time between Hanoi and Cao Bang to three hours.

A winning design conception of the Dong Dang - Tra Linh Expressway in northern Vietnam. Photo courtesy of A2Z

In the Mekong Delta region, the Rach Mieu Bridge 2 is set to be built in March.

The VND5.2 trillion project will connect the provinces of Tien Giang and Ben Tre.

It will have four lanes with a speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour.

It is set to reduce traffic on the current Rach Mieu Bridge located four kilometers away which is often jammed in the weekends.

An artist's impression of the Rach Mieu 2 Bridge connecting the provinces of Tien Giang and Ben Tre, Photo courtesy of My Thuan Project Mangement Board

Widening of the key HCMC – Long Thanh – Dau Giay expressway will also begin this year, with the number of lanes doubled to eight along a 24-kilometer stretch.

Bridges over the Tac and Long Thanh Rivers will be widened to have 10 and nine lands from the current four.

The work is expected to cost nearly VND13 trillion.

The HCMC – Long Thanh – Dau Giay Expressway opened to traffic in 2015, and has been showing signs of being overloaded recently.

A section of the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway. Photo by VnExpress/Phuoc Tuan

Construction of the 53.7-kilometer Bien Hoa – Vung Tau Expressway will be done under the public-private partnership model at a cost of VND19.6 trillion.

It will connect the two southern cities, have four to six lanes and intersect the HCMC – Long Thanh – Dau Giay Expressway at Long Thanh.

It is meant to improve connectivity to the Long Thanh International Airport which is being built.

The 200-kilometer Dau Giay – Lien Khuong Expressway between Lam Dong and Dong Nai provinces will improve connectivity to the Central Highlands.

The four-lane highway will ease pressure on the Tan Phu – Bao Loc Road, which also connects the two localities and often suffers from landslides and accidents.