Tet traffic terrorises Hanoians

HÀ NỘI — Hanoians have suffered frequent traffic jams over the last week and the situation is predicted to worsen in the days near Tết (Lunar New Year).

Local streets often plagued by serious traffic congestion include Tây Sơn, Tôn Đức Thắng, Thái Hà, Chùa Bộc, Láng Hạ, Lê Văn Lương, Cầu Giấy, Xuân Thủy, Nguyễn Văn Cừ, and Chương Dương Bridge.

Nguyễn Thúy Nga of Long Biên District said it took nearly an hour for her to drive the seven km from her house on Nguyễn Văn Cừ Street to downtown Hà Nội last Saturday afternoon.

“Normally, it only takes me about 20 minutes,” she added. “It’s terrible, vehicles blocked the road, no space to move.”

A man living in Trung Tự Residential Area said he had to spend an hour driving from his house to the National Cinema Centre. It was only 2.8km.

The large number of vehicles caused a section of the road to be clogged both during the day and at night, he said. Typically, traffic jams only took place in the daytime, he said.

The same situation has occurred on the road of Cầu Giấy – Xuân Thủy, partly due to the construction site of Nhổn – Hà Nội Station. It occupies more than a half of the roadbed there.

Although taxis, trucks and coaches have been banned from the road during the day, the traffic situation has yet to improve.

Road users are also plagued by traffic jams in sections of the city’s Ring Road No 3 running through the streets of Khuất Duy Tiến, Phạm Văn Đồng, Phạm Hùng, Trần Duy Hưng, Giải Phóng, and Minh Khai.

A representative of the city’s traffic police said the number of vehicles on the streets within the last week was three times the usual number.

Apart from private vehicles, there were also a large number of vehicles carrying peach trees, kumquat trees and goods from nearby provinces to the inner city, he said.

Solutions

Ngô Mạnh Tuấn, deputy director of the Hà Nội’s Transport Department told Tiền Phong (Vanguard) newspaper that the department had worked with relevant agencies to quickly reduce traffic jams in the city.

First, they suspended issuing licences for construction sites along pavements and roads in the city.

Second, trucks, including container trucks, were banned in several streets between yesterday and Friday as well as between February 20 and February 21 from 6am-9am and 4:30pm-7:30pm, he said.

The streets encompassed sections of the Ring Road No 3 running through Khuất Duy Tiến, Nguyễn Xiển to Pháp Vân intersection, a section of National Road No 70 running through the streets of Phúc La – Văn Phú in Hà Đông District to Ngọc Hồi Street in Thanh Trì District, he said.

Tuấn added the People’s Committee of the city had recently approved the proposal of narrowing the Ring Road No 3’s divider to fix the traffic congestion.

After the divider is narrowed, the road will be 8m wider than before, he said. — Đức