On Tuesday, rows of cars and motorbikes spanned 2 km on both directions along Nguyen Van Linh Avenue through its busy intersection with Nguyen Huu Tho Street in District 7.
The intersection of Nguyen Van Linh and Nguyen Huu Tho streets has been blocked off for the construction of a tunnel since last month, so drivers have to take alternative routes and/or wait in long lines of heavily congested traffic in which vehicles slowly crawl towards their destinations.
Trucks, cars and thousands of motorbikes struggle to find a spot on the road, moving inch by inch through the traffic jam.
As the largest avenue in southern HCMC, Nguyen Van Linh Street is always choked with vehicles. After the intersection with Nguyen Huu Tho got closed down, congestion got worse.
Weather in HCMC has been exceedingly hot recently, with temperatures reaching 35-38 degrees Celsius. People protect themselves from the heat and dust with face masks as they squeeze through the traffic.
Similarly, a section of Nguyen Huu Tho running through the intersection with Nguyen Van Linh has also been gridlocked for around 2-km in each direction, but especially moving north from Nha Be District to District 1 and other downtown areas.
Vehicles fill up the road of Nguyen Huu Tho on Tuesday.
"In the past few days, I had to go to work 30 minutes earlier because I feared I would be late," said Nguyen Van Tien, 38, who stays in Nha Be District.
Nguyen Thi Nhi (R, front) said the already-bad traffic at the Nguyen Van Linh-Nguyen Huu Tho has only gotten worse since the barricades were erected, especially during rush hours.
"I hope the structure will be completed early so business can thrive again," she said.
Right now, all the middle section of the Nguyen Van Linh route has been barricaded for the construction of a tunnel. Construction materials and machineries have been gathered at the site. As planned, the intersection will be closed down for 240 days until the completion of tunnel construction.
At certain locations along the construction site, workers are planting beams and reinforcing the barricades to maintain safety.
Vehicles traveling from Nguyen Huu Tho often turn around when they reach the intersection with Nguyen Van Linh.
Luong Minh Phuc, director of the HCMC Management Board of Traffic Works Construction and Investment, the main investor of the project, said Nguyen Van Linh and Nguyen Huu Tho are the largest avenues in southern HCMC, so barricades in the area "will certainly" affect local traffic.
Before closing down the intersection, the contractor built several accompanying infrastructures to re-route traffic, such as paths and traffic lights. Construction units also worked through the recent Tet holiday to keep the progress on track.
The Nguyen Van Linh-Nguyen Huu Tho intersection tunnel project, which began construction in April 2020, will cost VND830 billion ($33.7 million) for the completion of the first phase. The project aims to relieve traffic burdens at the southern entrance of HCMC. It has two tunnels on the ends of Nguyen Van Linh Street, with each tunnel spanning 456 meters, and including three lanes. The speed limit is 60 kph.
The first phase of the project was supposed to be completed in 2022, but there were delays regarding the relocation of infrastructure, such as electric and water systems. The tunnel project is expected to be completed at the end of this year.
