HCM CITY – More flyovers and tunnels will be built in HCM City to reduce traffic congestion, the city’s Department of Transportation has said.

Though the city has many traffic circles, it has a fewer number of tunnels. Traffic interchanges that include both flyovers and tunnels are seen as the best solution to reduce traffic congestion.

Existing traffic circles cannot control the volume of vehicles, causing regular traffic jams, according to the department.

The city’s People’s Committee has assigned the Department of Planning and Architecture to re-design all traffic interchanges and report on those that need flyovers or both a flyover and a tunnel

Many plans to build flyovers and tunnels are already underway.

Nguyễn Văn Tám, deputy director of the city’s Department of Transportation, was quoted in Sài Gòn Giải Phóng (Liberated Sài Gòn) newspaper as saying that the city had decided to change part of the Bình Triệu Road and Bridge 2 Project and will build a tunnel in addition to a traffic interchange at Đài Liệt Sĩ crossroads.

In Bình Thạnh District, land clearance activities for the Đài Liệt Sĩ traffic interchange to Điện Biên Phủ Street are now being carried out, with the aim of building a tunnel and widening the road.

The project is expected to solve the traffic burden at the northeast gateway of the city.

The tunnel will be 450m long and 9m wide. A feasibility plan to build the tunnel has been created and it is set to be completed in 2019.

In other areas, construction of tunnels has begun.

At the An Sương crossroads in District 12, construction of a tunnel is underway, with total capital of over VNĐ510 billion (US$22.3 million).

This is a two-way tunnel which runs along Trường Chinh Street and National Road No 22.

When finished in 2018, the An Sương crossroads will become a traffic interchange that will include a flyover, traffic ring and tunnel, all of which are expected to reduce traffic jams in the city’s northwest gateway.

Near Cát Lái Port in District 2, construction of the Mỹ Thuỷ traffic interchange is progressing quickly. The first phase of the project will include construction of a tunnel where vehicles can transit to Cát Lái Port.

In the second phase, the interchange will be completed and will contain a flyover, tunnel and traffic ring.

The tunnel, to be finished at the end of January, is expected to solve traffic congestion on Nguyễn Thị Định and Đồng Văn Cống streets.

The city has also approved upgrading a traffic interchange at the crossroads of Nguyễn Văn Linh and Nguyễn Hữu Thọ streets in District 7, with total capital of around VNĐ2.6 trillion ($93 million). The project will include a tunnel and flyover.

A traffic interchange in the An Phú region in District 2 will be built with three levels, including a tunnel and flyover. The tunnel will connect HCM City, Long Thành, and Dầu Giây Highway with Mai Chí Thọ Boulevard. VNS