On May 3, in a discussion with Tiền Phong journalists about the two elevated steel bridges that have been completed but not yet put into use, a representative of the Thăng Long Project Management Board (Thăng Long Board), Ministry of Transport (MoT), said that the two additional elevated steel bridges at the Mai Dich intersection were completed by the contractors and the Thăng Long Board on March 31, 2023.
According to the Thăng Long Board, after this date, the investor carried out the remaining steps such as acceptance, developing a traffic organization plan (for the elevated section of Ring Road 3), coordinating to complete the necessary procedures to hand over the project to the Hanoi City for acceptance and operation. However, by mid-April, the handover and acceptance were still not ready from the Hanoi City People’s Committee. Consequently, on April 16, 2024, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyễn Duy Lâm signed document No. 4052/BGTVT-KCHT requesting the Hanoi City People’s Committee to promptly take over and put the project into operation.
The completed Mai Dich elevated bridge was fenced off, creating a bottleneck that has caused traffic congestion for months.
In the aforementioned document, according to Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyễn Duy Lâm, the component of the project to “Build two urban bridge units and organize traffic at Mai Dich intersection,” part of the Mai Dich – Nam Thăng Long elevated road construction investment project, a section of Ring Road 3, Hanoi City, which was approved by the Prime Minister, has been substantially completed.
To ensure consistency, synchronization, and ease in management, operation, and maintenance of the entire Mai Dich – Nam Thăng Long road, the MoT requested that the Hanoi City People’s Committee take over the management of the Mai Dich intersection and direct relevant units of the city to coordinate with the Thăng Long Project Management Board to immediately organize the takeover and management of the project components as prescribed. It also requested that the project be put into operation soon to ensure safety and meet the urgent transportation needs of the local residents.
However, to date (including after the recent peak travel period of April 30 – May 1), the MoT representative informed Tiền Phong journalists on the afternoon of May 3, that they had not yet received a response from the Hanoi City People’s Committee regarding the acceptance, operation of the project, or the contents outlined in the aforementioned document.
To complete the Mai Dich intersection and Ring Road 3, while also separating car and motorbike lanes to minimize traffic congestion and conflicts, in early 2023, the MoT reached an agreement with the Hanoi City People’s Committee to build two additional elevated steel bridges to expand the width of the existing Mai Dich intersection. The total investment of the project was over 344 billion VND. The project was approved by the Prime Minister and utilized surplus funds from the elevated road project for the Mai Dich – Thang Long bridge section.
A contrasting and disconcerting image that has been seen at the Mai Dich intersection for months.
Regarding the traffic organization and operation plan, the Hanoi City People’s Committee agreed with the MoT that once the two elevated bridge ramps are completed, cars passing through the Mai Dich intersection will be organized according to the following plan: urban vehicles (cars and motorbikes within Hanoi City) will use the elevated steel bridge; vehicles using the elevated section of Ring Road 3 will use the existing Mai Dich intersection (currently, all vehicles, including cars and motorbikes, use the same lane). The purpose of this arrangement is to separate the traffic flows of vehicles on the elevated road – which travel at highway speeds – from those on urban roads, thereby reducing conflicts, collisions, traffic accidents, and congestion. The project needs to be expedited so that it can be put into operation soon and achieve its investment objectives.
