VietNamNet Bridge – There are five urban projects that the country's largest city aims to complete in 2015. According to online newspaper Vnexpress, these include the building of its first-ever pedestrian zone, bringing into use the Pham Van Dong Road, the construction of a steel flyover at the Go Vap six-way intersection and the Thanh Da Channel Bridge, and making improvements to the Tan Hoa-Lo Gom Canal, which will also involve expansion of the roads lining it.

The Y-shaped steel flyover at Go Vap Intersection has one stretch that measures 234m in length and 6m in width, and connects Nguyen Oanh Road and Nguyen Kiem Road. The other stretch, which is 274m long and 6m wide, links Nguyen Oanh Road and Pham Ngu Lao Road.

First pedestrian zone

The VND430 billion (US$20 million) pedestrian zone to be built at Nguyen Hue Street will be 64m wide and 670m long, stretching from the municipal People's Committee building to Bach Dang Harbour.

Based on its design, the surface of the road and walkways on the street will be paved with natural stones. Infrastructure facilities such as drainage, lighting and green spaces will be enhanced, and a musical fountain will be installed.

This fountain will be one of the highlights of the zone, with features such as themed music and three-dimensional images accompanying it. A monument of President Ho Chi Minh, with seasonal flowers surrounding it throughout the year, will be another highlight.

Work on this project commenced last September and is expected to be completed before April 30, the 40th anniversary of national reunification.

Pham Van Dong Road

The 14km-long road, which runs through the four districts of Tan Binh, Go Vap, Binh Thanh and Thu Duc, serves as an arterial road linking the city with its satellite towns and the neighbouring provinces of Binh Duong and Dong Nai. It is expected to ease traffic congestion at the city's eastern gate, particularly by being able to divert traffic from the roads of Kha Van Can, Bach Dang and Dinh Bo Linh.

The project, which required funding of US$340 million, is part of the city's ring road, which connects Tan Son Nhat Airport with National Highway 1.

Sponsored by the Korean GS Engineering&Construction Corp., this project began in June 2008, the first to be built in the form of a B-T (build-transfer) project in Viet Nam at that time.

In September 2013, the first 4.7km section, extending from the Nguyen Thai Son Intersection to the Binh Trieu Intersection, was brought into use, following which two more sections came into operation. On February 14, another 4.2km section was opened to traffic, bringing the total completed length to 11km so far.

Y-shaped flyover

The Y-shaped steel flyover at Go Vap Intersection has one stretch that measures 234m in length and 6m in width, and connects Nguyen Oanh Road and Nguyen Kiem Road. The other stretch, which is 274m long and 6m wide, links Nguyen Oanh Road and Pham Ngu Lao Road.

Costing VND406 billion ($19 million) to build, the project kicked off late last year and is expected to be completed after seven months of work.

The municipal Department of Transport estimated that when brought into use, it will help reduce traffic congestion at this junction by 80 per cent. It added that the flyover initiative was built on the success of the six others installed earlier – including the first Y-shaped flyover at the Cay Go Roundabout – in easing traffic congestion.

Bridge to ease traffic

The older Kinh Bridge connecting downtown HCM City with Thanh Da Peninsula – the reason it is also called Kinh Thanh Da Bridge, with kinh meaning canal in Vietnamese – was built before 1975. With a length of 85m and a capacity of bearing 15 tonnes, the bridge's low height over water and narrow width between piers, in addition to the fierce flow of water, resulted in frequent incidents of vessels crashing into it; with boats often left cracked or sunken.

In January 2011, work began on a new bridge, which will be 325km long and 21m wide, with a distance of 20m between piers and height over water of 3.5m.

When completed this year, according to plan, the VND430 billion ($20 million) project is expected to boost socio-economic development on the peninsula.

The new bridge, which lies close to the old one, completed a first phase in July 2013 and opened partially to traffic. This has already helped ease traffic congestion on the single access road to the peninsula after the old road was closed.

Canal upgrade

The Tan Hoa-Lo Gom Canal, flowing through the four districts of Tan Binh, Tan Phu, 11 and 6, is one of the most polluted canals in the western city, affecting the nearly one million residents, most of whom are poor, living along it. Narrowed by increasing urbanisation, the canal was neglected for decades.

In late 2011, the city started a project to improve the canal. This was planned to be done by partially turning it into a drainage conduit with a road 7m to 13m in width being built over the section from Au Co Road to Hoa Binh Bridge. Another 7.4-km-long section was planned to be improved by dredging and building embankments and spillover walls.

The roads on either side of the canal, which are 6m to 20m wide, will also be improved.

Ten new bridges will be built across the canal, in addition to the landscaping changes that four areas along the canal will see.

This project, which will cost VND2 trillion ($93.6 million), is set to be completed by the end of this year.

Source: VNS