Vehicles are stuck at a toll booth near Rach Chiec Bridge, HCMC, January 22, 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Thi Thao
Traffic on a street at the eastern entrance to HCMC was heavily congested on Monday due to problems related to the construction of a footbridge for the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line.
At around 6 a.m., vehicles formed long lines on a stretch crossing the Rach Chiec Bridge on Vo Nguyen Giap Street towards downtown HCMC. In about 30 minutes, thousands of vehicles poured into the area, extending the lines to an intersection in the town of Thu Duc. Several vehicles attempted to escape the traffic jam by using other routes, but this only made the traffic jam worse.
“Rach Chiec Bridge is usually crowded during rush hour, but the situation was serious in the morning. I was stuck here for more than two hours and late for work,” said Nguyen Hoang, 36.
A representative of the Cat Lai Traffic Police under the HCMC Traffic Police Division said the traffic jams were caused by the construction of a footbridge connecting Rach Chiec Station of the Ben Thanh Metro Line -Suoi Tien. Due to a crane truck malfunction, work had to be suspended and the problem was not resolved until around 7 a.m. Traffic returned to normal around 9 a.m.
A representative of the HCMC Urban Railway Management Authority, the main investor of the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line, said the construction of the footbridge was only done at night, normally from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. in the morning the next day.
Rows of vehicles are seen stuck in traffic on Vo Nguyen Giap Street in HCMC. Video by VnExpress/Thi Thao
Walkways will be built for nine elevated stations of the metro line to connect them to bus stations and neighborhoods. Most of them will be built along the Hanoi Highway-Vo Nguyen Giap route. All the walkways are expected to be completed this year so that the metro line can be opened in July, which will be the first in HCMC.
The 20km-long Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line costs more than VND43.7 trillion ($1.78 billion). It is now 98% complete.
