HCM CITY — Experts have called for widening roads, improving transport connectivity and greater use of technology to prevent congestion outside Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport in HCM City.

At a workshop hold in the city on Tuesday by the Research Institute for Development, there were 10 reports by leading aviation and urban transport experts with solutions for unclogging the roads outside the airport.

Deputy director of the city Department of Transport, Nguyễn Văn Tám, said there are around 10 traffic hotspots near the airport that need to be cleared up immediately.

Construction of the two flyovers in July on the Trường Sơn-Tân Sơn Nhất-Bình Lợi-Outer Ring Road and the Nguyễn Thái Sơn-Nguyễn Kiệm intersection has only reduced the traffic jams, not prevented them, he said.

“The two giant flyovers were built at a large cost, but they did not help ease the traffic as expected.”

The low density of land used for transportation and the presence of more than eight million vehicles on the city’s roads overload the system, he said.

Tân Sơn Nhất Airport received more than 32.5 million passengers last year, 30 per cent higher than its projected capacity for 2020 of 25 million passengers, he said.

Besides, aircrafts too are often held up and have to wait to land, he said.

Caption: Construction of flyovers at the Trường Sơn-Tân Sơn Nhất-Bình Lợi-Outer Ring Road and Nguyễn Thái Sơn-Nguyễn Kiệm intersection has only reduced and not eliminated traffic jams outside HCM City airport. — VNA/VNS Photo

Nguyễn Hữu Nguyên of the Việt Nam Urban Planning and Development Association said a quick way to get rid of the congestion is by reducing the number of vehicles on Trường Sơn Street.

Streets to the airport’s north and south such as Phạm Văn Đồng, Quang Trung, Nguyễn Oanh, Nguyễn Văn Trỗi, Hoàng Văn Thụ, and Phan Đăng Lưu should be widened to reduce traffic on Trường Sơn Street, he said.

He said work on 22 projects to reduce the traffic problems around the airport has been suspended because of difficulties with land acquisition.

While waiting for them to be completed, the city should collect a reasonable toll from vehicles entering Trường Sơn Street, he suggested.

Prof Dr Nguyễn Trọng Hòa, a former director of the city Department of Planning and Architecture, said transportation to the airport should be supplemented with a dedicated road network. It may be a long-term, costly solution, but would be a radical solution that permanently solves the traffic problem, he said.

“There is no way to limit vehicles on Trường Sơn Street because the street is part of the city’s urban transport system and not meant only for the airport.”

He called for building a dedicated and parallel system of flyovers leading into the airport in combination with a ring road around it.

Other priority solutions suggested at the workshop were high capacity public transport in combination with the use of advanced technology.

After listening to the experts, the organisers will draft a proposal for the city administration, which will then submit it to the Government for approval. — VNS