Construction of the metro bridge encounters problems, causing traffic congestion at the gateway to Ho Chi Minh City.

The increased volume of traffic during rush hour, coupled with a malfunction in the pedestrian bridge beam on Metro Line 1, caused a 3km traffic jam on Vo Nguyen Giap Street at the eastern gateway of the city on the morning of January 22nd.

At 6:30 AM, traffic began to build up along the Rach Chiec bridge on Vo Nguyen Giap road (formerly Hanoi Highway), heading towards the city center. About 30 minutes later, thousands of vehicles continuously converged on this area, causing a prolonged traffic jam stretching towards the RMK intersection in Thu Duc City. Cars and motorbikes filled the road, inching forward. Many vehicles turning from the parallel road conflicted with those going straight, exacerbating the congestion.

"The Rach Chiec Bridge is usually congested during rush hour, and this morning the situation was even worse. I was stuck here for over two hours and was late for work," said Nguyen Hoang, 36.

A long traffic jam occurred in front of the toll booth leading to Rach Chiec Bridge on the morning of January 22nd. Photo: Thi Thao — A long traffic jam occurred in front of the toll booth near Rach Chiec Bridge on the morning of January 22nd. Photo: *Thi Thao*

A leader of the Cat Lai Traffic Police team, under the Ho Chi Minh City Traffic Police Department, said the traffic congestion was due to the construction of a pedestrian bridge connecting Rach Chiec station, part of the Metro Line 1 project (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien). A crane malfunction caused delays in the bridge girder installation. The problem was only resolved after 7 AM, delaying the reopening of the road to traffic by more than 2 hours compared to previous days. Traffic in the area only returned to normal after 9 AM.

Construction of the metro bridge encounters problems, causing traffic congestion at the gateway to Ho Chi Minh City. — Long traffic jam on Vo Nguyen Giap road. Video : *Thi Thao*

Representatives from the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Board (the investor of the Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien Metro line) also stated that the construction of the pedestrian bridge on the Hanoi Highway - Vo Nguyen Giap axis will only be carried out at night, from 10 PM to 5 AM the following day. Last night, the contractor restricted traffic on a section of Vo Nguyen Giap road to install the girders.

The pedestrian bridge girders connecting the elevated Rach Chiec station were installed on the morning of January 22nd. Photo: Dinh Van — The pedestrian bridge girders connecting the elevated Rach Chiec station were completed on the morning of January 22nd. Photo: *Dinh Van*

Pedestrian bridges are being installed at 9 elevated stations of Metro Line 1 to connect bus stops and residential areas. Most of the bridges are being built along the Hanoi - Vo Nguyen Giap highway. It is expected that all bridges will be completed by mid-year to serve the metro operation starting in July. Currently, the nearly 20 km long urban railway project, with a total investment of over 43,700 billion VND, has completed 98% of its work.