Ho Chi Minh City finds it difficult to build many bicycle lanes because of narrow sidewalks and traffic jams.

Ho Chi Minh City residents have proposed taking advantage of wide enough sidewalks to open safe and convenient bicycle lanes. However, the Department of Construction said that the current infrastructure is not up to the task, so only one route on Mai Chi Tho Street has been piloted.

Mai Chi Tho Street (HCMC) will be piloted as a bicycle lane in the near future (on the empty land in the middle of the street) - Photo: CHAU TUAN

Regarding the issue of building separate bicycle lanes, Mr. Nguyen Kien Giang - Deputy Head of the Department of Maintenance Management and Operation of Traffic Works (under the Department of Construction) - gave specific information at the Ho Chi Minh City socio-economic press conference on the afternoon of October 2.

According to Mr. Giang, according to national technical standards on technical infrastructure systems, bicycle lanes can be arranged on sidewalks shared with pedestrians or in the vehicular portion of urban roads, but must ensure technical standards according to regulations, in which the minimum width for bicycle lanes is 2.5m.

In Ho Chi Minh City, especially in the central area, the infrastructure has not met this requirement. Streets such as Pham Ngu Lao, Ly Tu Trong, Nam Ky Khoi Nghia... all have narrow but uneven sidewalks, which are often occupied for motorbike parking, trading or obstructed by technical infrastructure (electric poles, electrical cabinets, lamp posts...), leading to the remaining area for pedestrians not having the minimum of 1.5m.

For the vehicular section, the current state of the central routes is modest in width, the volume of traffic is very large, traffic is congested, so it is difficult to arrange priority lanes for bicycles.

The construction of bicycle lanes must be carefully studied, ensuring compliance with current regulations, traffic planning, bicycle needs, traffic volume of other vehicles and actual infrastructure before it can be implemented.

Mr. Giang also said that bicycle lanes were studied more than 10 years ago with about 20 routes considered, but only one route was piloted due to many reactions, in the context of the city's roads being constantly congested, "there is not enough space for motorbikes to run".

Currently, the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Traffic Management Center is building a bicycle lane on the sidewalk of Mai Chi Tho Street, from Nguyen Co Thach to D1 Street, about 6km in both directions, expected to be operational in December 2025.

After the pilot, the Department of Construction will continue to monitor, evaluate, and research before replicating this model in Ho Chi Minh City. Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has 4,869 roads with a width of 5m or more, but more than half of them do not have sidewalks.

There is not enough space for motorbikes and pedestrians, how can there be a bicycle lane?

In reality, many roads in Ho Chi Minh City are often congested while sidewalks have limited width.

According to statistics before the merger, the whole city had 4,869 roads with a width of 5m or more, but more than half of them had no sidewalks. This made it even more difficult to arrange separate bicycle lanes.

CHAU TUAN

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tp-hcm-kho-lam-nhieu-lan-xe-dap-vi-via-he-hep-duong-ket-xe-20251002170517329.htm