There have been many opinions that some 2-lane highways without a hard median pose many risks to traffic safety. In response to VTC News on February 28, a representative from the Department of Roads acknowledged this reality and affirmed that measures would be taken.
An accident occurred at km48 Cam Lo – La Son expressway on February 18. (Photo: Vo Thanh)
Missing many items, not meeting standards
According to Mr. Le Hong Diep, Head of the Management Department for Road Infrastructure Maintenance (Department of Roads), currently, in addition to the 98.6km Cam Lo – La Son expressway, routes such as Noi Bai – Lao Cai, La Son – Tuy Loan, Hoa Lac – Hoa Binh, Thai Nguyen – Cho Moi… are also designed with 2 lanes due to limited resources. Therefore, the expressways that are under development will lack some construction items such as emergency stop lanes, rest stops, intelligent transportation systems…
“A standard expressway will have a comprehensive traffic organization with maximum and minimum speeds, number of lanes, emergency stop lanes. The upgrade will include rest stops, intelligent traffic systems for monitoring, tracking, and adjusting traffic safety. The expressways that are currently under development will lack some of these items.”
“For example, the Cam Lo – La Son route, only about 20% of the total length is designed with 4 lanes divided into sections. The remaining over 80% of the new route is designed with 2 lanes, divided into two directions for vehicles. These routes will face more difficulties in traffic organization compared to fully developed expressways,” Mr. Diep cited.
According to Mr. Le Hong Diep, the Ministry of Transport and the government have directed the settlement of the phasing stages of investment for complete investment of an expressway, contributing to traffic safety and avoiding coping measures with the current situation.
In the future, when fully invested, the implementation of traffic safety laws on expressways will be clear, and people will have smoother traffic.
How is Cam Lo – La Son being fixed?
Regarding Cam Lo – La Son expressway, which is of particular concern, Mr. Diep said that the Department of Roads is coordinating with the project management boards of the Ministry of Transport to review, study, and make adjustments.
Specifically, there will be two steps for adjustments. The first step is to adjust some items on the Cam Lo – La Son expressway. Specifically, this route will be adjusted by painting dividing lanes and shoulders from continuous lines to broken lines in sections that meet conditions for avoidance, overtaking. Along with that, functional agencies will organize a review and adjustment of signs on this route.
“Locations that were formerly 2 lanes, painted with continuous lines and had clear visibility, not in curves, with sufficient conditions for avoidance, overtaking according to regulations, will be changed to broken lines on the road, synchronized with that, the continuous line on the right lane will also be changed to broken lines. Thus, when both directions do the same, the second vehicle can overtake the first vehicle when requesting a signal. At the same time, the second vehicle can also request a signal from the opposite lane when this lane has no vehicles, or the opposite lane can steer to the right to yield a part of its lane for the other vehicle to overtake. If all vehicles comply with this, the vehicles will overtake each other, and there will be no head-on collisions or situations where the leading vehicle does not allow overtaking resulting in collisions,” Mr. Diep explained.
Problems on the Cam Lo – La Son expressway will be resolved, adjusted on March 10. (Illustrative photo: Nguyen Vuong)
According to the Department of Roads representative, the safety enhancement measures will be implemented on the Cam Lo – La Son expressway on March 10 or at the latest in March, and will be consistent across the remaining routes.
“Overall, the Ministry of Transport and the Department of Roads have also given instructions to all units, reviewing all phased investment routes, and proposing specific solutions for implementation. All of these tasks will be completed in March in terms of proposals. Regarding implementation, adjustment will be related to resources, and selecting contractors in accordance with regulations,” he added.
However, Mr. Diep affirmed that any items that can be immediately rectified and repaired with available resources will be implemented immediately.
The role of 2-lane expressways
In addition to the need for coping plans to handle deficiencies, the Department of Roads evaluates that 2-lane expressways have contributed to the economic development of many localities.
“It is true that recently there have been some accidents on some expressways, especially on phased investment expressways. However, overall, traffic accidents have decreased, and especially, traffic congestion on some national routes has been resolved,” Mr. Le Hong Diep assessed.
“In terms of economic impact, personally, I believe that expressways and phased investment expressways play a significant role in the development of the economy and society. If there were no expressways, even those that are not yet complete like these, it would not be easy for domestic and foreign investors to access and invest in remote areas,” he expressed his viewpoint.
Many phased 2-lane expressways will soon be repaired. (Photo: Nguyen Vuong)
Citing evidence, Mr. Diep said that in the early days of 2024, many localities connected to new expressways such as Nha Trang, Phan Thiet, Tay Ninh… have seen a sudden increase in tourist volume, with a majority of them traveling by personal vehicles.
Prior to that, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang stated that the operation and exploitation of expressways in recent times has been effective, promoting economic and social development, especially in reducing traffic accidents. According to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security, the number of accidents on expressways in 2023 accounted for 1.16% of total cases, and during the 2024 Lunar New Year, it accounted for about 0.35% of the total cases.
However, in the period before 2020, due to limited investment resources for transportation infrastructure, some projects needed phased investment, including some sections with 2 lanes. Therefore, the current traffic organization plan has been developed and implemented to suit the scale of the phased stage.
“Regarding the progress of expanding 2-lane expressways and Cam Lo – La Son expressway, since late 2019, the Ministry of Transport has made a decision to assign the Management Board for Ho Chi Minh Road Project to study the investment of expanding from 2 to 4 lanes. Currently, the board is completing the project settlement, and then after reporting to the Ministry, submitting the complete investment plan to arrange capital for expanding to 4 lanes,” Minister Nguyen Van Thang revealed.
