Close-up of 2 seriously degraded bridges in the South of Ho Chi Minh City

The existing Rach Tom Bridge is small and narrow but every day it has to carry a large amount of traffic, including trucks and cars. Having existed for more than 50 years, many parts of the bridge have deteriorated and rusted, and must be fixed with steel wires.

The bridge deck is made of iron plates, and every time a vehicle passes by, it shakes violently. In 2019, the project to build a new Rach Tom bridge was approved by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport with an investment of nearly 497 billion VND.

The total length of the project is over 683m, of which the bridge is 171m long and 15m wide, the approach road is over 512m long and 29m wide. The project has not been implemented due to insufficient medium-term capital allocation for the 2021-2025 phase.

“Every day I cross this iron bridge and it is very scary. The surface is slippery and the bridge shakes loudly. I have to wait for the trucks to pass before I dare to go,” said Ms. Tam (living in Nhon Duc commune, Nha Be district).

Many parts of the bridge have deteriorated and rusted. Some of the bridge legs are rusted and riddled with holes.

Although Rach Tom Bridge has degraded, it still carries a large amount of traffic every day, including heavy trucks.

Rach Doi Bridge (connecting Nha Be district, Ho Chi Minh City with Long Hoa district, Long An), many iron bridge pillars have rusted, some iron bridge pillars also have holes.

Rach Doi Bridge is 128m long and is currently closed to trucks due to its poor load-bearing capacity.

Under the bridge, boats, ships, and barges loaded with sand and goods continuously pass by, making people traveling across the bridge feel scared.

The policy of building a new Rach Doi bridge was approved by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council in 2016, but has not been implemented because Ho Chi Minh City has not been able to balance its capital sources.

The area under Rach Doi bridge has become a place for collecting household waste from surrounding residents.

In the month of August 2024, the project to build new Rach Tom and Rach Doi bridges was proposed by the Department of Transport of Ho Chi Minh City to the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City to be included in the priority investment plan from now until 2030. The total investment capital for these two bridges is about 2 billion VND, of which Rach Tom bridge is proposed to be invested with a total investment of nearly 1.300 billion VND and Rach Doi bridge is about 497 billion VND.

On Le Van Luong Street, there are 4 iron bridges built before 1975. Of these, Long Kieng Bridge was newly built with a cost of nearly 600 billion VND and opened to traffic in September 2023 month, after more than 22 years of implementation.

200m from Nguyen Van Linh Street, Rach Dia Bridge on Le Van Luong Street is under construction and is expected to be completed by the end of this year, which is expected to ease traffic congestion in the South of Ho Chi Minh City. If on schedule, by the end of 2026, there will be a new Rach Tom Bridge on Le Van Luong Street and by the end of 2028, there will be a new Rach Doi Bridge, making it more convenient for people to travel.