Work starts on expanded National Highway 13 project: Relieving traffic pressure, meeting development needs

To meet the needs of enterprises ‘goods and people’s traveling, the expanded National Highway 13 project is expected to continue creating the strength for the local socio-economic development as well as other localities in the region.

Arterial route

National Highway 13 is the arterial route connecting Ho Chi Minh city – the country’s economic and cultural hub with the Southeastern and Central Highlands provinces. In 1997, the route was invested by Becamex IDC under the BOT form, greatly contributing to the local socio-economic development. It also brings success in attracting investment in industrial parks, namely VSIP I, Viet Huong, Dong An, followed by My Phuoc 1, 2, 3...

National Highway 13 with the section through Thuan An city will be expanded by 2 lanes at traffic demand in the new period

National Highway 13 also connects with DT741 street to follow National Highway 14 to the Central Highlands provinces. The existing National Highway 13 with 6 lanes is considered as one of the region’s modern roads. However, after a long time of being put into operation with an increasing density of vehicles, National Highway 13 is overloaded, often congested on peak hours, especially with the section passing through Thuan An city, greatly affecting the local transportation activities. Therefore, the project of upgrading and expanding National Highway 13, with the section from Vinh Phu in Thuan An city to Le Hong Phong intersection in Thu Dau Mot city is 12.7km long as well as a project to build overpasses and tunnels at intersections on this route is putting high expectations to thoroughly solve traffic jams, contributing to bringing the province a civilized and modern urban face.

Nguyen Van Loi, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of provincial Party Committee, Head of provincial National Assembly Deputy Delegation emphasized the implementation of the project to expand National Highway 13 in order to further create a "technical framework" for the local socio-economic development at two big goals on relieving traffic pressure on the route and preparing for urban development. The project contributes to building Binh Duong into a civilized and modern city with great spread, strongly affecting neighboring provinces and cities. “If we are slow in infrastructure investment, we will miss two beats in terms of investment attraction and development. Binh Duong will not be able to develop quickly when the potential for development of transport infrastructure in the province is very low. Therefore, we need to focus on investing and expanding transport infrastructure to ensure industrial, urban and service development. In order to rearrange Binh Duong's urban areas, serving development in the coming years, the province's transport infrastructure must go first", said Mr. Loi.

People with consensus, high expectation

Nguyen Thanh Tam, Chairman of Thuan An city’s People's Committee said that the city has completed inventory and appraisal to apply compensation prices related to the expanded National Highway project with the section through it. The project has received a high consensus from many people and enterprises with some sites that can now be assigned to the construction unit to start construction. The city has creatively applied in mass mobilization work to get a high consensus among people and enterprises for the common benefit of the project.

Sharing with us, Bo Van Bong, a resident living near Hoa Lan intersection in Thuan Giao ward said that all members of his family have agreed and supported the expanded National Highway 13 project and have handed over more than 270 square meters of land to the construction unit. “Although it is a place where my family has lived for decades, we have wholeheartedly supported the project when knowing about its meaning. With a satisfactory settlement price, my family can find a better place to live," said Mr. Bong. Similarly, many other households like Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan in Thuan Giao ward’s Hoa Lan 1 quarter added that all people in the quarter have agreed with the project when knowing about its common benefits. "We want the route to be more beautiful, more modern, and free of traffic jams on peak hours," Lan said.

Dr. Tran Du Lich, a member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Group assessed National Highway 13 as an important external traffic project of Binh Duong. The expanded National Highway 13 project not only benefits Binh Duong, but also helps the Southern Key Economic Zone and the Central Highlands region develop in the future. Assoc. Prof-Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, a member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Group also said that the project will "resonate" with the belt roads 3, 4 and other roads, making Binh Duong as well as the whole region really flourish.

Today (April 26), the province kicks off a project on upgrading and expanding National Highway 13. The project will expand the right side of the street by 2 more lanes (from 12 meters to 18 meters), raising its surface from 6 lanes to 8 lanes with width from 39.5 meters- 40.5 meters. On the route, there are two overpasses, including an overpass at Huu Nghi - Binh Hoa intersections with a scale of 880m long and 17m wide; an overpass at Hoa Lan intersection with 646m long, 17m wide. The province will also build and expand Tan Phu bridge by 1 unit in the direction from Ho Chi Minh city to Thu Dau Mot city, bringing its total width to 40.5 meters. The project has a total cost of about VND1.4trillion.

Reported by Minh Duy-Translated by Kim Tin