Reducing congestion at Tan Son Nhat airport gateway

Speeding up the construction progress of Terminal T3 - Tan Son Nhat International Airport and neighboring projects is an important solution to limit congestion.

On the evening of December 27, heavy rain caused traffic jams on many roads leading to Tan Son Nhat airport (HCMC).

Optimistic signals from terminal T3

Many people drove motorbikes inching forward in the rain on Cong Hoa Street, Truong Son Street (Tan Binh District) and the roads leading to the airport. Many passengers who had just landed at the airport and were traveling to the center of Ho Chi Minh City encountered traffic jams right at the entrance.

However, some passengers traveling by private car said they paid the airport entrance fee via ETC account when the airport piloted the non-stop toll collection. According to the Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV), the pilot implementation of non-stop toll collection for vehicles entering and exiting Tan Son Nhat airport contributes to creating convenience for passengers and reducing local congestion at the gateway area.

Construction site of T3 terminal project - Tan Son Nhat International Airport on the afternoon of December 27. Photo: LAM GIANG

Not far away, the large construction site of the T3 passenger terminal - Tan Son Nhat International Airport is rushing to complete construction to meet the official opening schedule on April 30, 2025. At the launching ceremony of the 120-day emulation competition to complete the project to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification of the country of this project, Mr. Tran Minh Chau, in charge of the Equipment Engineering Department - Project Management Board, said that the total volume of work has reached about 75% - 80% and is following the set plan.

According to the reporter of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, in the last days of the year, the atmosphere at the construction site of Terminal T3 is even more bustling and urgent. Many construction items have been completed on time and ahead of schedule. Items such as the passenger terminal, high-rise parking lot and non-aviation services, electromechanical building, overpass system, aircraft parking lot... are all taking shape.

The T3 passenger terminal construction project was deployed and started by ACV at the end of August 2023 according to the orientation of developing transport infrastructure for the 2021-2025 period and Decision 657/2020 of the Prime Minister on approving the investment policy of this project. The project has a total investment of nearly 11,000 billion VND with 4 main items. Of which, the T3 passenger terminal item has a scale of 1 basement and 4 floors above ground, with a total construction floor area of ​​112,500 m2, including 89 traditional aviation check-in counters, 20 automatic bagdrop counters, 42 check-in kiosks, 26 aircraft gates, 6 departure baggage handling islands, 10 arrival baggage return islands, 25 passenger security control gates...

According to ACV, after completion, the T3 passenger terminal will be a domestic passenger terminal with a capacity of 20 million passengers/year, serving 7,000 passengers/peak hour. This will reduce the load on the overloaded T1 terminal, improve the quality of passenger service and fundamentally solve the congestion at Tan Son Nhat airport.

Many positive signals

At the end of the year, due to the high demand for transporting goods and shopping, many routes have become "hot spots", often experiencing traffic jams during rush hours, especially the airport gateway routes such as Truong Chinh, Tan Ky Tan Quy, Hoang Van Thu...

On Cong Hoa Street (the section adjacent to Truong Chinh Street to Lang Cha Ca Roundabout, Tan Binh District), from 7-9 am and from 5-7 pm every day, vehicles line up one after another, causing it to take more than 30 minutes to travel a distance of about 5 km. Similarly, on Truong Chinh Street (from Tham Luong Bridge to the intersection with Hoang Hoa Tham) and Tan Ky Tan Quy Street (from the intersection with Truong Chinh to Le Trong Tan), drivers are always in a state of suffocation, not only during the two rush hours but also when the number of vehicles increases suddenly.

Traffic jam on Truong Chinh Street through Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: HOANG TRIEU

To relieve congestion at the gateway to Tan Son Nhat airport, many projects are being implemented by the Ho Chi Minh City government, such as the road connecting Tran Quoc Hoan - Cong Hoa (Tan Binh district), the Hoang Hoa Tham road expansion project (from the gate of the Military Camp to the intersection with Hoang Hoa Tham bridge, Tan Binh district), the Tan Ky Tan Quy bridge construction project (Binh Tan district) and the Tan Ky Tan Quy road expansion (from Ma Lo to Binh Long, Binh Tan district).

Regarding the progress of the Hoang Hoa Tham Street expansion project, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board said that the project is still stuck with legal procedures for handing over the defense land, and the land of 3 households was handed over in November 2024. If the defense land is available soon, the investor will try to complete the project before the April 30, 2025 holiday.

Meanwhile, the Tran Quoc Hoan - Cong Hoa road connection project has opened the underpass from Hoang Van Thu street towards Phan Thuc Duyen and organized traffic at the Thang Long - 18E - Cong Hoa road connection, helping to reduce traffic congestion in the Lang Cha Ca overpass area and Thang Long road. The entire project has so far completed about 88% of the volume, with 68 households still stuck with the site clearance. If the site clearance is available by the end of December 2024, the project is expected to be completed on February 28, 2025.

Regarding the project to upgrade and expand Tan Ky Tan Quy road, a route expected to form a traffic axis connecting National Highway 1 to the center of Ho Chi Minh City and Tan Son Nhat International Airport, the investor representative said that a section from Ma Lo to Binh Long will be completed this December. At the same time, the Tan Ky Tan Quy bridge construction project will be completed before this Lunar New Year, creating convenience for people to travel.

"When the Tan Son Nhat airport gateway cluster projects are put into operation, they will help reduce pressure and relieve congestion on the roads around the airport. In particular, when the T3 terminal is completed and put into operation on the occasion of April 30, 2025, the above projects will contribute to opening up the airport gateway, creating urban beauty and connecting districts to the city center and Tan Son Nhat airport more conveniently" - a representative of the Management Board of Investment and Construction Projects of Ho Chi Minh City traffic works said.

In order to meet and serve the travel needs of the people, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam - Ministry of Transport has just sent a document to the People's Committees of provinces and cities with airports, directing the Department of Transport to review and request the units operating bus routes to and from the ports to make plans, increase the frequency of operation and increase the operating time of buses to and from the airports, especially at night according to the night operating hours of the ports.

At the same time, it is recommended that the People's Committees of provinces and cities direct the Departments of Transport and related departments and agencies to review and request other transportation service providers in the area such as taxis and technology cars to increase operating hours and increase the number of vehicles to the airport to serve customers in need, especially passengers on night flights to and from the airport.

Previously, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam also adjusted the number of takeoffs and landings at Tan Son Nhat airport to 48 flights/hour during the day and 46 flights/hour at night. It is expected that the number of flights will increase sharply during the peak Tet holiday (from December 15 onwards) with 800 flights/day, 130,000 passengers/day, equivalent to more than one flight every minute.

"To best serve the increasing number of passengers during the 2025 Lunar New Year, passengers need to proactively prepare their personal documents, schedules, and flight-related information to limit delays and flight errors. At the same time, the number of family members coming to pick up and drop off at the airport during Tet should be limited," a representative of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam recommended.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/giam-un-tac-cua-ngo-san-bay-tan-son-nhat-196241227212919762.htm