Long Kieng Bridge in Nha Be district will open to traffic on September 2nd holiday. Photo: Anh Tu

Long Kieng Bridge project has been struggling for more than 20 years

The project to build a new Long Kieng bridge, approved by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee in 2001, was intended to replace the iron Long Kieng bridge built after 1975. However, the project was not implemented because Ho Chi Minh City could not arrange capital and encountered difficulties in compensation and site clearance.

The project was approved and adjusted in 2017 with a length of 318m and a width of 15m, built with the city budget at a value of 589 billion VND.

The project had not yet been implemented when, in early 2018, a truck driver carrying about 15 tons of rock, drove onto the old Long Kieng bridge (which allowed vehicles under 3.5 tons to pass), causing a span on the navigation deck to completely collapse.

Eight months after the incident, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has just urgently started construction of Long Kieng Bridge, expected to be completed in November 2019.

However, after completing the construction of 7 bridge piers, the project had to stop at the end of 2019 due to lack of land. After nearly three years of stagnation, in September 2022, Nha Be district completed compensation and handed over the entire land to the investor to restart the project.

The 20-year-old dream of having Long Kieng bridge of Nha Be district residents is about to come true. Photo: Anh Tu

On August 24, Mr. Luong Minh Phuc - Director of the Management Board of Investment and Construction of Traffic Works in Ho Chi Minh City (investor) said that after nearly 1 year of resumption of construction, Long Kieng Bridge has reached nearly 99% of the volume and will open to traffic on the occasion of National Day, September 2, 3 months earlier than planned.

According to Mr. Phuc, after completion, the new Long Kieng Bridge will play an important role in improving the traffic situation, helping Nha Be connect smoothly with District 7, the center of District 1 and neighboring areas; at the same time, promoting trade activities and socio-economic growth of Nha Be.

Can Gio residents are about to have a new bridge

Can Gio District is one of the places with poorly developed transport infrastructure in Ho Chi Minh City. Here, people still have many difficulties in traveling. In particular, Vam Sat 1 Bridge is too small and degraded because it was built a long time ago. Not only that, many overloaded vehicles often run across the bridge, causing unsafe conditions.

Therefore, the Vam Sat 2 Bridge project was started in March 2018 with a total capital of more than 342 billion VND. The bridge and the two approach roads have a total length of nearly 1.1 km, the bridge surface is 10 m wide. The bridge is designed to have a lifespan of 100 years, withstand earthquakes of level 7 and the traffic speed across the bridge is 60 km/h, with no load limit.

Vam Sat 2 Bridge is located about 100m from Vam Sat 1 Bridge towards the Soai Rap River mouth. The starting point of the project is Ly Nhon Street and the end point is the intersection of Ly Nhon Street and Soai Rap dike road.

Vam Sat 2 Bridge will open to traffic on September 2nd holiday, helping to increase connectivity for Can Gio district. Photo: Anh Tu

According to Mr. Luong Minh Phuc, the Vam Sat 2 bridge was completed in August 2019. However, due to site clearance issues, construction was suspended for more than 2 years. It was not until 2022 that the project was fully handed over by Can Gio district for the investor to restart. Currently, the project has reached more than 99% of the volume, ready to open to traffic on the occasion of the upcoming September 2nd holiday.

“After completion, Vam Sat 2 bridge will share the load with the old Vam Sat 1 bridge, thereby effectively exploiting Ly Nhon road connecting traffic between An Thoi Dong commune, Ly Nhon commune with the center of Can Gio district and with the center of Ho Chi Minh City” – Mr. Phuc said.

Laodong.vn