Repairing National Highway 1A bypass through Thanh Hoa City

The National Highway 1A bypass through Thanh Hoa City is degraded, causing traffic safety problems, so it must be temporarily repaired for half a month.

On June 22, Mr. Luu Hung Son, Head of the Road Management Office II.1, said that due to limited funds, the unit spent about 5 billion VND from the reserve fund to temporarily repair Highway 1A, the section avoiding Thanh Hoa City. Repair items include asphalt pavement, replacement of signs, paint lines, and expansion joints on bridges.

Rutted tire tracks stretch along Highway 1A, avoiding Thanh Hoa City. Photo: Le Hoang

According to Mr. Son, the road was put into use in 2009 but the Thanh Hoa Bypass BOT Joint Stock Company has not yet handed over the project. Due to lack of regular maintenance, the road has deteriorated. The most serious section is from the BigC roundabout intersection in Dong Hai ward to the end point of the intersection with National Highway 1A in Quang Thinh ward. The road surface is deformed in many places, the asphalt is peeling off, the wheel tracks form grooves like potato beds, some places are 10-15 cm deep.

The road is allowed to run at a speed of 90 km/h, but many vehicles have to slow down to 30-40 km/h to ensure safety due to long ruts, which can easily cause vehicles to lose control and cause accidents.

Workers are scraping the road surface to re-pave the asphalt. Photo: Le Hoang

The Department of Transport of Thanh Hoa province has repeatedly requested the Thanh Hoa Bypass BOT Joint Stock Company to repair the road, but the company has not received a final solution. The company claims that it has "no funds" because toll collection has been suspended while the project has not been finalized and handed over to the transport sector for operation.

National Highway 1A, Thanh Hoa City bypass, is over 10 km long, with a 26 m wide roadbed, including four lanes for motor vehicles and two lanes for non-motor vehicles, and a 5 m wide median strip. The entire route has 5 bridges and 5 intersections. The total initial investment capital of the project is 822 billion VND, under the BOT form.

National Highway 1A, Thanh Hoa City bypass section at BigC intersection. Photo: Le Hoang

According to the contract and appendices of the project contract between the Vietnam Road Administration and the investor - Thanh Hoa Bypass BOT Joint Stock Company, the toll collection period to recover capital for the Thanh Hoa City Bypass is expected to be 27 years and 8 months, and the toll collection period to generate profit will be extended by 3 years.

However, in August 2017, after assessing the situation, the Ministry of Transport concluded that the operator had recovered more than the investment capital, so it requested to stop the operation of the Tao Xuyen BOT station after 7 years and 2 months.

Le Hoang

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