Ho Chi Minh City may turn main streets into one-way to battle congestion

• HCMC plans $652-million elevated road to ease traffic congestion
• Higher speed limit blamed for accelerated traffic accidents in Saigon

Ho Chi Minh City’s transport department has planned to turn traffic on several key streets into one-way next year to reduce gridlocks.

Cong Hoa, Hai Ba Trung, Hoang Van Thu, Le Quang Dinh, Le Quy Don, Pham Ngoc Thach, Phan Van Tri, Tran Quoc Thao and Truong Chinh have been named in the plan, which if approved will take effect sometime next year.

The official said the one-way solution recently applied to Nguyen Thi Minh Khai and Dinh Bo Linh has proved effective.

A source from the department said these streets are serving too many vehicles and a small crash can easily result to severe traffic jams.

Ho Chi Minh City, the country’s most crowded with around 12 million people including migrants, has various other plans for its traffic problems, including building elevated roads and even banning private vehicles in downtown areas.

The city has more than eight million motorcycles running on just more than 4,000 kilometers of road. The number of cars is also on the rise.

Nearly 4,200 new cars and 9,000 new motorbikes are registered every month.

Buses provide the only means of public transportation, but ridership has fallen.

Work is currently underway on the city’s first subway, but the first line linking the city’s downtown to District 9 will only begin operating in 2020.

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