Saigon is considering yet another elevated highway to ease traffic gridlock between the city center and the airport.
Local contractors have proposed a 3,240 meter-long overpass leading directly from Tan Son Nhat International Airport to Hoang Van Thu and Nguyen Van Troi streets, reports Tuoi Tre.
If approved, the East Mekong Company Ltd., Dong A Infrastructure JSC, and the Ministry of Defense’s Corporation 319 will be in charge of executing the project at an estimated budget of VND2.6 trillion (US$114.3 million).
Hoang Dinh, project director of Dong A Infrastructure JSC, stressed that upgrading the traffic infrastructure around the airport is just as necessary as schemes designed to improve flight-related facilities. If approved, the highway would be an addition to five other existing highway projects drawn up to relieve heavy congestion on roads leading to and from the airport, two of which are already being constructed.
Others, however, fear that these highways are only makeshift solutions. Professor Nguyen Le Ninh, a member of the city’s Fatherland Front Committee, commented to Tuoi Tre: “With Ho Chi Minh City developing at such a rapid pace, it will only be a short while before the airport routes are flooded again. By then, what other projects will we be building?”
In a separate Tuoi Tre article, Nguyen Thi Bich Hang, a professor at the University of Transport and Communications, added that the proposed overpass would only divert traffic onto already-congested Nguyen Van Troi and Hoang Van Thu.
[Photo via CafeF]
