Ho Chi Minh City to spend more than $65 million expanding National Highway No.50

Vehicles on the National Highway No.50. Photo: Le Toan

The project has the total investment of nearly VND1.5 trillion ($65.2 million), VND510.3 billion ($22.18 million) of which will come from the central budget and the rest from the city budget. The project will begin implementation this year and be completed in 2023.

The highway will have a 6.92km section crossing the city. There will be two new bridges on the route, including Ba Lon Bridge (80m) and Ong Thin Bridge (240m).

Vo Van Hoan, Deputy Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee said that the National Highway No.50 is an important traffic axis of the city, connecting with Long An and Tien Giang provinces. This is also the path to Da Phuoc Solid Waste Treatment Complex, so the traffic density is very high.

However, the existing road is narrow with a variety of vehicles such as trucks, containers, motorbikes, and rudimentary vehicles, resulting in congestion. Especially, congestions at the intersection of the National Highway No.50 - Nguyen Van Linh increases the risk of traffic accidents.

The expansion of the National Highway No.50 will improve the capacity of the road axis connecting Ho Chi Minh City with Long An, the western provinces, as well as Long Thanh International Airport after it is completed and put into operation.

It is known that the plan to expand this route dates back to 2007 with Decision No.438/QD-BGTVT of the Ministry of Transport (MoT), and Decision No.101/QD-TTg on the transportation development planning of Ho Chi Minh City until 2020.

In 2013, the MoT completed the expansion of the National Highway No.50, which runs through Long An and Tien Giang with a length of more than 32km. While the project in the area of Ho Chi Minh City stalled due to slow compensation and clearance.