Pressure on access routes

Phong Thu Bridge is the "bottleneck" on Highway 609. Photo: CT

Located parallel to the new Cau Lau bridge to the west, the old Cau Lau bridge is seriously degraded, with sunken pillars and broken railings, making it unsafe for traffic. For many months, the authorities have banned all types of cars from crossing the old Cau Lau bridge, so it is impossible to divert cars across this bridge to repair the new Cau Lau bridge.

Director of the Department of Transport of Quang Nam province - Mr. Van Anh Tuan expressed that the old Cau Lau bridge currently only allows rudimentary vehicles, motorbikes, and scooters to circulate. The repair of this bridge will start from September 29, 2024, with an expected construction progress of 365 days. During the repair process, traffic will be very limited, including a complete ban on traffic across the old Cau Lau bridge when necessary.

Traffic diversion plan for trucks over 5 tons and passenger vans over 30 seats. Photo: TVTK Unit

The meeting between Road Management Area III, National Highway 1 management unit, design consulting unit with functional departments of the province, representatives of People's Committees of Duy Xuyen, Thang Binh, Dai Loc districts and Dien Ban town reached an agreement on many contents on traffic diversion plan, continuing to allow rudimentary vehicles, motorbikes, and scooters to circulate through the new Cau Lau bridge, and arranging backup to ensure priority vehicles for urgent tasks (Quang Nam Newspaper reported).

According to the traffic diversion plan, Thang Binh area will "welcome" more cars going up and down National Highway 14E, Da Nang - Quang Ngai expressway intersection; cars going through Duy Xuyen area will travel on National Highway 14H (old DT610 route), south of Giao Thuy bridge; cars going through Dien Ban area will travel on old National Highway 1 (from Vinh Dien bypass intersection to the gate of Nguyen Duy Hieu High School), route DT609, Da Nang - Quang Ngai expressway; cars from Dien Ban to Dai Loc to pass Duy Xuyen, down to National Highway 1 and vice versa will travel on routes DT609, DT609B, Giao Thuy bridge and National Highway 14H.

Traffic diversion plan for trucks under 5 tons and passenger vans under 30 seats (in photo: DT610 is now QL14H). Photo: TVTK Unit

Normally, every day, tens of thousands of cars pass through the new Cau Lau bridge. Now, the traffic volume "radiates" to the access routes through the 4 districts and towns mentioned above, which is very large. Meanwhile, many routes are currently overloaded, for example, National Highway 14H from the south of Giao Thuy bridge down to Nam Phuoc intersection (Nam Phuoc town, Duy Xuyen); Provincial Highway 609B from the north of Giao Thuy bridge to Ai Nghia intersection (Ai Nghia town, Dai Loc); the beginning of Provincial Highway 609 intersects with the old National Highway 1 (the beginning of Phan Thuc Duyen street, Vinh Dien ward) and Phong Thu bridge (Dien Tho commune, Dien Ban).

Ore trucks run on DT609B (Dai Loc) to get off National Highway 1, then enter Chu Lai port. Photo: CT

It is known that vehicles carrying ore or other goods from Nam Giang International Border Gate to Chu Lai Port for export use DT609B route, down DT609 and over the new Cau Lau Bridge. However, when the new Cau Lau Bridge is banned for repair, the above vehicles will have to change their routes, they can go on the highway or they can also go DT609B to over Giao Thuy Bridge, down to Nam Phuoc intersection and then into Chu Lai Port. If so, the traffic volume on DT609B and QL14H routes, which are already crowded, will now be even more overloaded.

Therefore, Road Management Area III needs to send a document to the relevant departments and police of districts and towns to arrange functional forces to flexibly support traffic regulation and ensure traffic safety. Notably, the LK21 bus route (Da Nang - Tam Ky) is inevitably affected. Therefore, the two departments of transport of Da Nang and Quang Nam, together with the unit operating the bus route, need to discuss and agree on a "firefighting" plan for this period to ensure serving the travel needs of passengers.

According to Mr. Van Anh Tuan, Road Management Area III needs to report to the Ministry of Transport and the Vietnam Road Administration to soon invest in the construction and expansion of the new Cau Lau bridge and the Vinh Dien bypass with 4 car lanes and 2 non-motorized lanes according to the plan to ensure the travel needs of the people and traffic safety. Thus, the functional units will have an advantage in organizing traffic assurance whenever it is necessary to repair and maintain road bridges, such as the new Cau Lau bridge.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/cam-xe-de-sua-chua-cau-cau-lau-moi-ap-luc-cho-cac-tuyen-duong-tiep-can-3143606.html