Cổ Lũy Bridge spans the Trà Khúc River in central Quảng Ngãi Province. The bridge will help boost traffic from Quảng Ngãi to Quảng Nam and Bình Định Province as well as help improve links with Đà Nẵng. — Photo courtesy of Trần Lan Anh

QUẢNG NGÃI — The central province of Quảng Ngãi will put into operation the first cable-stayed Cổ Lũy bridge after four years of construction, boosting traffic infrastructure connection between the province with neighbouring provinces of Quảng Nam and Bình Định.

The bridge will be officially opened for traffic on the country’s Reunification Day (April 30).

Deputy head of the provincial managing board of construction investment and traffic works, Lê Tới said the four-lane bridge, which was built with a total investment of VNĐ2.250 trillion (US$97.8 million), spans the Trà Khúc River to link Tịnh Khê and Nghĩa Phú communes as well as the coastal road of Dung Quất-Sa Huỳnh.

The bridge was approved technically last October, but several preparation works and entrance projects took more time for completion, Tới said.

The 3.7km bridge with 31 spans was seen as one of the key projects of the province that would help promote socio-economic development and cargo road routes between the three provinces.

It’s also the fifth bridge that spans the Trà Khúc River including Trà Khúc 1, Trà Khúc 2, Thạch Bích, bridge of the Đà Nẵng-Quảng Ngãi Express and Cổ Lũy.

The province said the bridge will add to the smooth connection from the province with the East-West Economic Corridors linking Thailand, Laos and Myanmar through the Đà Nẵng-Quảng Ngãi Expressway.

Quảng Ngãi has great potential for rapid growth with its 130km coastline and favourable road, railway, seaport and airport connections.

The four-lane cable-stayed bridge is the first of its kind in Quảng Ngãi Province. Five bridges were built connecting the two river banks of the central province. — Photo courtesy Trần Lan Anh

The central province has begun the second phase of the 109km coastal traffic route Dung Quất-Sa Huỳnh in 2018-25 after the first phase was put into operation in 2017.

Quảng Ngãi has developed a smooth road traffic system as it is just 30km from Chu Lai Open Economic Zone in Quảng Nam Province, while cars travel in one hour and 30 minutes to Đà Nẵng. — VNS