The Vietnam Road Administration has just approved the project and plan to select a contractor for the project to handle 11 unsafe traffic locations on National Highway 15D, from the West branch of Ho Chi Minh Road to La Lay International Border Gate, Quang Tri Province to ensure traffic safety and serve socio-economic development.

The corner at km 10+750 on National Highway 15D has many potential traffic safety risks - Photo: TU LINH

According to the Road Network Planning for the period 2021-2030 with a vision to 2050, National Highway 15D (from My Thuy seaport to La Lay International Border Gate, Quang Tri Province) has the following sections: My Thuy seaport to National Highway 1, nearly 14 km long, has been upgraded from Provincial Road 582B; National Highway 1 to Cam Lo - La Son expressway, about 8 km; Cam Lo - La Son expressway to Ho Chi Minh road, West branch, about 34 km; the section coinciding with Ho Chi Minh road, West branch, about 24 km long; the final section from Ho Chi Minh road, West branch, to La Lay International Border Gate, 12.2 km long.

The section from Ho Chi Minh Road West Branch to La Lay International Border Gate is managed by the Department of Transport, formed from Provincial Road 588 (Ta Rut-La Lay route) starting at km305+347 of Ho Chi Minh Road West Branch, ending at La Lay International Border Gate in A Ngo Commune, Dakrong District.

Specifically, the section from La Lay International Border Gate to km6+040 meets the standards of a grade IV mountainous road, with a roadbed width of 7.5m and a 6m wide asphalt concrete surface; the section from km6+040 to km12+200 meets the standards of a grade VI mountainous road, with a roadbed width of 6.0m and a 5.5m wide asphalt concrete surface. There are 2 spillways and 9 medium and small bridges on the route; the bridges are in average condition.

National Highway 15D, this section, is the only trade route between Vietnam and some provinces of Laos and Thailand, so there is a large volume of vehicles participating in traffic almost 24/24 hours. In particular, from 2022 to now, the import of coal from Laos through La Lay International Border Gate has increased in volume, so the traffic on the route is even more.

Coal and mineral transport vehicles in general have heavy loads, causing serious deterioration of the road, making it increasingly difficult for large trucks and container trucks to travel. Furthermore, due to the mountainous terrain, this section has many small-radius, blind corners, posing a great risk to traffic safety. Therefore, investment in upgrading and renovating National Highway 15D is urgent.

According to the Traffic Maintenance Management Board, in response to this reality, the Department of Transport has advised the Provincial People's Committee to propose an investment policy for the Project to handle potential traffic safety risks on National Highway 15D, Quang Tri Province. On that basis, the Vietnam Road Administration assigned the Department of Transport to be the project investor to repair and handle locations with potential traffic safety risks on the route. Specifically at the following sections: km 6+250 - km 6+350; km 6+530; km 6+650 - km 6+900; km 8+700; km 8+900; km 9+110; km 9+200; km 10+560; km 10+750; km 10+900 - km 11+00 and km 11+060.

According to approval, at these locations, the main task is to dig the positive slope to improve visibility; supplement the drainage system and enhance traffic safety; expand the roadbed, road surface, and sidewalk. On the basis of the existing asphalt concrete road surface, expand the curves to ensure a minimum radius of ≥ 30m, improve the slope along the route and vehicle visibility.

The project has a total investment of more than 39.7 billion VND from the state budget. The project implementation and handover period for operation and use is from 2024 to 2025. National Highway 15D is one of the key East-West traffic axes of the province, playing a great role in socio-economic development, ensuring national defense and security of the province and the North Central region. In addition, National Highway 15D is part of the Economic Corridor connecting Quang Tri with Salavan province of Laos and Ubon Ratchathani province of Thailand (PARAEWEC) and vice versa, considered the shortest corridor to the East Sea.

The Ministry of Transport has also sent a document to ministries and branches to submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval of the proposal for the Project to upgrade and renovate national highways connecting with Laos using World Bank (WB) loans, including National Highway 15D. National Highway 15D has two sections: National Highway 1 to Cam Lo - La Son Expressway and Ho Chi Minh Road West Branch to La Lay International Border Gate with a total length of over 20km, designed at level III delta scale with 2 lanes, total investment of 1,387 billion VND, expected implementation time from 2024 - 2028.

For the section from Cam Lo - La Son highway to Ho Chi Minh road, it is not possible to balance the allocation of medium-term public investment capital for the period 2021-2025. The implementation of the construction of this route is very necessary, meeting the increasing transportation demand, connecting Vietnam's road network with the Southern Laos and Northeastern Thailand regions.

Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW dated November 3, 2022 of the Politburo on socio-economic development and ensuring national defense and security in the North Central and Central Coast regions to 2030, with a vision to 2045, also clearly stated the need to invest in developing regional traffic connections in the East-West direction, of which National Highway 15D is a key investment.

While waiting for investment in the basic construction of the entire road, in the immediate future, to ensure traffic safety and facilitate trade between Vietnam, Laos and Thailand on PARAEWEC, it is necessary to promptly invest in repairing potential traffic safety points on National Highway 15D, from the West branch of Ho Chi Minh Road to La Lay International Border Gate.

Tu Linh