A section of Cam Lo - La Son highway.

The Ministry of Transport has just sent an official dispatch to the People's Committee of Quang Tri province to organize traffic and upgrade and expand the North-South expressway in the East, Cam Lo - La Son section.

The specialized State management agency of Transport said that it had received Document No. 105/UBND-KT dated June 14, 2024 of the People's Committee of Quang Tri province on the plan to upgrade, expand and organize traffic flow for vehicles on the Cam Lo - La Son expressway section through Quang Tri province.

According to Mr. Nguyen Danh Huy, Deputy Minister of Transport, after receiving comments from the People's Committee of Quang Tri province, the Ministry of Transport assigned the Vietnam Road Administration to organize a survey team to evaluate the traffic flow regulation plan on the Cam Lo - La Son expressway, working with the two localities of Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue as a basis for reporting to competent authorities.

Based on the opinions of the Traffic Police Department (C08) and other agencies, the Vietnam Road Administration will select a Consultant to collect and analyze traffic data to issue a Traffic Organization Plan on the route in August 2024 to suit the practical situation, contributing to improving traffic safety on the Cam Lo - La Son expressway.

Regarding the investment in upgrading and expanding the route in phase 2 to a scale of 4 lanes, the Ministry of Transport highly agrees with the proposal of the People's Committee of Quang Tri province and reports to competent authorities for consideration and decision on the investment policy.

Currently, the Ministry of Transport has submitted to the Government a pre-feasibility study report on the investment project to build and expand the North-South expressway, Cam Lo - La Son section, using public investment capital (from increased revenue and expenditure savings in 2023).

The National Assembly has approved the plan to allocate capital sources to increase revenue and save expenditures in 2023 to regulate investment capital in 2025. Currently, the Ministry of Planning and Investment is presiding over the appraisal according to the procedures prescribed by law on public investment.

It is expected that after completing the required procedures, the Project will be implemented and basically completed in 2025.

“During the implementation process, the Ministry of Transport will closely coordinate with localities to organize plans to divide traffic flows on the route appropriately and safely,” said Mr. Nguyen Danh Huy.

Previously, in early June 2024, the Ministry of Transport issued Document No. 6182/TTr-BGTVT requesting the Prime Minister to consider and approve the Pre-Feasibility Study Report of the North-South Expressway Expansion Project in the East, Cam Lo - La Son section.

This is one of the North-South expressways in the East that the Ministry of Transport has assessed as having urgent needs and needs to be prioritized for upgrading and expanding immediately in this term, including: La Son - Hoa Lien, Cam Lo - La Son, Cao Bo - Mai Son, Trung Luong - My Thuan.

Of which, the North-South expressway section in the East is Cam Lo - La Son with the longest length of 98.35 km, of which the route through Quang Tri province is 36.3 km, Thua Thien Hue is 62.05 km.

Currently, the Cam Lo - La Son route is being exploited with most of the sections having a scale of 2 lanes, a roadbed width of 12 m, a road surface width of 11 m; the deep excavated sections have a scale of 2 lanes with a roadbed width of 23.25 m, a road surface width of 11 m; the overtaking sections have a scale of 4 lanes, a roadbed width of 23.25 m, a road surface width of 21.25 m. On the route, there are also 38 bridges, of which 4 have been completed with a complete 4-lane scale, 34 bridges with a 2-lane scale.

According to the proposal of the Ministry of Transport, the project will expand the cross-section of the existing Cam Lo - La Son expressway from 2 lanes to 4 lanes, the roadbed width from 12 m to 22 m, and the road surface width from 11 m to 20.5 m.

The sections with 23.25 m roadbed investment will have their cross-sections restructured in the direction of expanding the emergency stopping strip.

The project will invest in completing 2 intersections with Provincial Road 16 and Provincial Road 12B in the form of different levels of connection, ensuring synchronous and safe exploitation; maintain the invested bridges with a scale of 4 lanes; expand the remaining bridges to ensure a scale of 4 lanes, the bridge width is suitable for the width of the roadbed.

The works on the route will be utilized, extended or newly built to suit the width of the roadbed; service roads will be built to ensure regional connectivity and people's welfare.

In addition to upgrading and expanding the main highway, the project also invests in an intelligent traffic system, toll stations, and vehicle weight inspection stations on the La Son - Tuy Loan section.

With the above investment scale, the preliminary total investment of the Project is about 7,000 billion VND, invested from the state budget, expected to be arranged from increased revenue and regular expenditure savings of the central budget in 2023, which has been submitted by the Government to the National Assembly in Document No. 12/TTr-CP dated May 17, 2024.

It is estimated that the total land area occupied by the Project is not large, about 29.05 hectares (0.57 hectares of traffic land; 1.65 hectares of residential land and 26.83 hectares of various types of land), with compensation, support and resettlement costs (including contingency) of about 92 billion VND.