Gateway to Da Lat gets widened to serve increasing traffic demand

The Prenn Pass is linked with the end of National Highway 20 in Lam Dong Province as a gateway into Da Lat City, a top tourist attraction of Vietnam.

As the highway is currently the only route linking Da Lat with Ho Chi Minh City and its neighbors, it is always congested, resulting a large volume of traffic, especially during the weekend, peak travel season, and holidays.

To serve the high demand, a project was launched in February to widen the road through the pass, which runs 7.4 km long.

The construction site to expand a section of the road near a sleeper bus station of Da Lat City.

An expanded area of the road is paved with asphalt.

An excavator cuts a hillside to give space for road expansion.

The project destroys a total 6 hectares of pine forests along the two sides of the pass.

A traffic jam along the pass in January 2023.

A truck loader crane is mobilized to lift construction materials to build an embankment and a drainage system for the road.

A worker welds the iron framework for the road’s embankment.

A retaining wall rises 10 m high to prevent landslides.

The expansion project of the road seen from above.

The road is also connected with Lien Khuong – Prenn Expressway, which runs all the way to Lien Khuong airport in parallel with National Highway 20.

A map of National Highway 20 and Prenn Pass. Photo by GoogleMaps