The HCMC – Trung Luong Expressway is overloaded and needs to be widened from four to eight lanes, the HCMC Department of Transport said.

On Wednesday it also proposed to the city government that the expansion work should be done through a public-private partnership.

The expressway runs 62 km (38.5 miles) from the city to neighboring Tien Giang Province in the Mekong Delta.

Open to traffic since 2011, it is the only expressway connecting HCMC with the delta, and so has increasingly become overloaded, especially during holidays such as Lunar New Year when people flock to their hometowns en masse.

Once expanded to eight lanes, in addition to two emergency lanes, vehicles would be able to run at a top speed of 120 kph, the department said.

Currently the maximum speed is 100 kph.

Since toll collection was stopped in January 2019 it has seen traffic increase by 30 percent and more than 200 accidents, according to the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam’s Road Administration Department No.4, which manages the expressway.

On Apr. 27 the Trung Luong – My Thuan Expressway, a 50-km extension, was completed after years of delays. The section has four lanes and no emergency lanes.

Thanks to it, the total travel time between HCMC and Tien Giang has been cut from three hours to one hour and 45 minutes.

VnExpress.net