Major highway filled with potholes

National Highway 28 runs more than 300 km and functions as a key route connecting the south-central region with the Central Highlands.

It runs between Phan Thiet Town in Binh Thuan and Cu Jut District in Dak Nong.

But around 10 years after being built many of its sections have become decrepit, especially a 15-km stretch in Krong No District in Dak Nong, which is filled with hundreds of potholes.

Sometimes when it rains heavily the potholes are in knee-deep water, and vehicles passing over them stall. According to locals, the degraded drainage system in the area is the cause of the deterioration.

Nguyen Van Tam measures the water level in a flooded pothole in Dak Nong's Krong No District on National Highway 28.

"When it's flooded like this, if a car passes by, it causes waves and then water flows into the houses on both sides," Tam said, adding that residents have to use sandbags to protect their houses.

A woman drives through a flooded pothole.

A section that is potholed to a depth of 20 cm in some places.

The 5.5-m road is used by many trucks.

Dat, owner of a refrigeration store in the area, said when it is sunny he has to spray water at least twice a day to keep dust out of his store.

"My wife and I have to take turns to repeatedly clean our products every day."

Pham Van Tinh, deputy director of the Road Maintenance Project Management Board of Dak Nong Province, said this year the board would renovate National Highway 28.