Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Expressway: The road from Cach Mang Thang Tam (August Revolution)

Coincidentally, the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Expressway begins at Cho Dem, where on the night of August 20, 1945, the Southern Regional Party Committee held an extraordinary conference and issued a resolution to launch the uprising. The expressway crosses Tan An – the location chosen by the Southern Regional Party Committee as a "pilot" site for the uprising in the entire South – and ends in My Tho, the next locality after Tan An to achieve victory in the August Revolution.

Báo Long An•19/08/2025

Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Expressway, Tan An interchange (Photo: Duy Bang)

From Cho Dem to My Tho

When the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong expressway was completed in 2010, the journey from Cho Dem (then part of Tan Tuc commune, Binh Chanh district, Ho Chi Minh City) to Tan An City (formerly Long An province) took only about 20 minutes by car (a distance of over 30km). Along that same stretch of road, in the early morning of August 21, 1945, Mr. Nguyen Van Hoang – representing the Southern Regional Party Committee – spent about 10 hours delivering a crucial order: to conduct a pilot uprising in Tan An province so that the Regional Party Committee could learn from the experience and lead a simultaneous uprising throughout Southern Vietnam.

Previously, on August 19, 1945, the uprising to seize power was successful in Hanoi . The very next day, August 20, 1945, the Southern Regional Party Committee urgently convened a conference in Cho Dem to discuss the uprising in Southern Vietnam. The conference decided to launch the uprising first in Tan An because it had a strong mass movement and an internal network. Around noon on August 21, the uprising broke out in Tan An town, then spread to other districts in the province. The insurgent forces quickly seized government offices, subdued soldiers, arrested the Provincial Governor Nguyen Van Thach, and killed District Chief Phuoc – a man with a long history of bloodshed against the people… By approximately 3 PM that same day, the uprising had ended in victory. The hammer and sickle flag and the red flag with a yellow star fluttered proudly over mansions and streets... Following the successful uprising in Tan An, the Southern Regional Party Committee quickly convened to evaluate and learn from the experience, leading to the decision to launch the uprising in My Tho on August 24th, and in Saigon - Cholon on August 25th...

Since the August Revolution

Eighty years after the order for the uprising in Southern Vietnam during the August Revolution was issued from Cho Dem, the road from Cho Dem to Tan An and ending in My Tho has entered history as the first expressway in the South. This road plays a crucial role in the development of the Southern Key Economic Zone and has helped the Mekong Delta "take off." With this modern road, cars can travel at 100 km/hour, taking only 30 minutes from Ho Chi Minh City to My Tho (compared to approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes previously). In Tan Hiep town, one of the first successful uprising sites in My Tho province, the expressway's grandeur is even more evident. The elevated road is flanked by vast fields of pineapple and rice paddies. At the Tan An interchange (between the expressway and National Highway 62), the road becomes even more modern with a bridge over the Vam Co Tay River, then runs elevated for many kilometers, flanked by industrial and urban areas.

From the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Expressway, the route extends to My Thuan, then Can Tho, and is now under construction all the way to Ca Mau . Not only that, other horizontal expressways such as An Huu - Cao Lanh, Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang are also under construction, helping to modernize transportation in the Mekong Delta. The Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Expressway has also been approved by authorities to be expanded from 4 lanes (plus 2 emergency stopping lanes) to 8 lanes (plus 2 emergency stopping lanes), commensurate with the vital route connecting Ho Chi Minh City with the Mekong Delta, and reflecting the region's glorious history.

Nguyen Phan Dau

Source: https://baolongan.vn/duong-cao-toc-tp-hcm-trung-luong-con-duong-tu-cach-mang-thang-tam-a200896.html