In recent days, vehicles have remained stuck on the roads leading to the airport entrance in Tan Binh district, even outside peak hours.
At the Lang Cha Ca roundabout, at the intersection of Tran Quoc Hoan, Cong Hoa, Hoang Van Thu and Thang Long, a sea of vehicles can be seen moving inch by inch on the roads. Cars line up in rows, while thousands of motorcycles try to weave through the busy streets.
Many people had to spend long periods in the sun and heat.
“Normally, this stretch is already crowded. But while traffic jams usually occur during rush hours, in the morning and afternoon, today it also happens at midday. It’s stifling,” he said. said Nguyen Lanh, 36, who lives in District 12.
The most seriously blocked road is the Cong Hoa road. The street allows vehicles to travel at 60 km/h, but it took Lanh more than 30 minutes to cover a 3 km section in recent days, from Lang Cha Ca roundabout to Truong Chinh Street.
“For an office worker like me, who leaves in the morning and returns in the afternoon, Cong Hoa Street is truly a congestion nightmare,” he said.
Cong Hoa is the main road connecting District 12, Tan Phu and Tan Binh districts to city centers and Tan Son Nhat Airport. Traffic volumes on the road, however, exceeded 110 percent of its planned capacity, according to data from HCMC Urban Traffic Management and Control.
The Cong Hoa-Hoang Hoa Tham intersection in particular is a new congestion hotspot, even though there is already a viaduct in the area. Diversion measures taken in the morning and afternoon cannot solve the problem, simply due to the large number of vehicles involved.
Similarly, Lang Cha Ca roundabout and Tran Quoc Hoan-Phan Thuc Duyen intersection next to Hoang Van Thu Park are also congestion hotspots.
In the first 11 months of this year, both sites experienced hundreds of cases of congestion, according to the Department of Transportation. An ongoing construction site for a tunnel of the Tran Quoc Hoan-Cong Hoa link road project has also contributed to congestion.
Meanwhile, the number of visitors arriving at Tan Son Nhat Airport also increased, returning to average levels of 2019, before the pandemic hit.
In the first 10 months of this year, the number of visitors reached more than 34 million, an increase of 22% compared to the same period last year. As Tet As we approach the airport, the airport is expected to see between 135,000 and 140,000 visitors per day, making traffic even more difficult.
Nguyen Van Binh, deputy head of the Road and Rail Traffic Police Division of the HCMC Police, said that apart from the fact that traffic density would be high as demand for shopping and travel from end of year would increase, the areas around the airport are full of offices and services. centers, making traffic jams virtually inevitable.
Binh said the units asked the airport to update the number of daily visitors and deploy rerouting and parking measures to prepare for the influx of visitors. Tet traffic.
“Traffic police forces, together with police forces from Tan Binh, Go Vap and Phu Nhuan districts, will monitor remotely and prevent vehicles from entering congested places if anything happens,” he said. he said, adding that the airport has a rapid response team ready to respond. solve problems.
Since the start of this year, more than 140 incidents concerning infrastructure and traffic lights have been resolved, thus avoiding a worsening of traffic jams, he added.
A representative of the transport department said that apart from overloading infrastructure, the lack of traffic labels also contributed to congestion.
The Tan Son Nhat area has been invested with five viaducts, as well as an extension of the Cong Hoa road to deal with traffic jams.
However, the Ministry of Transportation said a more effective solution would be a high-capacity public transportation system connecting the airport and the completion of the Tran Quoc Hoan-Cong Hoa link road.
The link road project, costing more than $197.5 million, is expected to be operational next year. In addition to connecting with Terminal T3, the project would also create a new road to access the airport.
While the project is underway, the transport department is exploring measures to restrict truck access to the Tan Son Nhat area to reduce traffic congestion.
