When was Phong Chau Bridge built and what is its load capacity?

Phong Chau Bridge partially collapsed on the morning of September 9.

Phong Chau Bridge is located at Km18+300 of National Highway 32C, connecting Phung Nguyen Commune, Lam Thao District with Van Xuan Commune, Tam Nong District. Due to its important location, the bridge often has a very high traffic volume.

Phong Chau Bridge is built with a steel truss structure, nearly 380m long. The roadway is 7m wide, the sidewalks are 1m on each side; the bridge surface is 9.5m wide. The bridge consists of 8 spans, of which spans 6 and 7 are made from two simple truss spans 64m long made in Bulgaria.

The project was inaugurated on July 28, 1995.

In 2013, Phong Chau Bridge was repaired and reinforced. In September 2019, Phu Tho continued to reinforce the bridge to prevent erosion, and at the same time banned vehicles weighing 18 tons or more from crossing the bridge.

At around 10am on September 9, Phong Chau bridge collapsed. Initially, authorities determined that there were about 10 cars, 2 motorbikes and 13 people missing in the Phong Chau bridge collapse.

In 2022, voters in Phu Tho province requested the Ministry of Transport to allocate funds to repair Phong Chau Bridge due to severe damage and degradation. However, the Ministry of Transport said it has not been able to allocate funds due to limited public investment capital for the 2021-2025 period.

Phong Chau Bridge location on Google Maps

The Ministry of Transport has reported to the Government to prioritize allocating investment capital for the project to complete National Highway 32C through Viet Tri City, Phu Tho Province (Km11+500 - Km21+158) with a total investment of about 160 billion VND in the medium-term public investment plan for the period 2021 - 2025.

Regarding the investment in upgrading or building two new bridges to replace Phong Chau Bridge and Tu My Bridge (through Tam Nong and Cam Khe districts), the Ministry of Transport has noted the proposal and will prioritize investment when resources are balanced.

Immediately after the Phong Chau bridge collapse incident occurred in Phu Tho province this morning, September 9, the Ministry of Transport directed the Inland Waterways Administration to coordinate traffic and instruct watercraft not to enter the collapsed bridge area.

VN (according to VNA)

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/cau-phong-chau-xay-dung-khi-nao-co-trong-tai-bao-nhieu-392552.html