The seaside viaduct curving parallel to the old road over Nuoc Ngot Pass near Vung Tau beach town of Ho Chi Minh City, is one of the highlights of the Provincial Road 994 expansion project.
The existing 76.8-km road was built 20 years ago. Nearly three years ago, construction started on widening it to 6-8 lanes with a design speed of 80 kph. The project is divided into five main component sections, with total investment of more than VND6.533 trillion.
The bridge is more than 500 m long and around 15 m wide, with asphalt paving completed. Routing the viaduct around Ky Van Cape avoided cutting through the mountain and pushed the alignment toward the sea to take advantage of the scenery.
The Nuoc Ngot Pass area had previously been proposed for road widening, parking, rest stops, and a sea-view footbridge, but those plans were never carried out. Instead, the new bridge incorporates a walkway for visitors to view the sea.
More than 10 km from the viaduct, the new 721-m-long, 12.5-m-wide Cua Lap 2 Bridge has been built parallel to the existing operational bridge.
The section running through the densely populated area of Long Hai Commune has been widened to six lanes.
At the start of the route, the section from the Nha Lon roundabout in Long Son Commune connecting to National Highway 51 has been widened to 40-54 m, with a sweeping new network of slip roads.
The section from National Highway 51 to Cua Lap has been built from scratch, crossing canals and aquaculture ponds. The work is finished, but the section cannot yet open to traffic because the overpass linking it to the Bien Hoa-Vung Tau Expressway is still under construction.
The newly opened section runs along the foot of Minh Dam Mountain. Through Phuoc Hai Commune, the road follows a new alignment that avoids dense residential areas and existing tourist sites.
The coastal road passes through the Binh Chau-Phuoc Buu Nature Reserve in Xuyen Moc Commune that borders Lam Dong Province.
This stretch will eventually link up with the end point of the planned Long Thanh-Ho Tram Expressway that connects the upcoming Long Thanh International Airport with Ho Tram beach resort complex.
