Urging project implementation soon
National Highway 13 not only plays the role of the "backbone" traffic axis of Binh Duong province's transport system, but also an arterial route connecting Ho Chi Minh City to Binh Phuoc and the Central Highlands provinces. The 62km-long project going through Binh Duong province, invested in the form of BOT, has been put into use for many years and has brought positive results, effectively contributing to the socio-economic, industrial and urban development of Binh Duong province, meeting the travel needs of the people in the province and in the provinces and cities in the Southern key economic region.
Provincial leaders survey National Highway 13, section through Binh Duong province
Mr. Nguyen Van Hung - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Becamex IDC Corp said that over the past time, the transport system in the province has been invested in a synchronous and timely manner, promoting the pioneering role of "going ahead and paving the way" to contribute positively to the socio-economic development of the province. However, rapid socio-economic development, urban industry, mechanical population increase, traffic increase, especially vehicles with large loads and transit traffic from provinces and cities in the region, etc. have increasingly put pressure on the transport infrastructure, especially the Southern roads of the province. According to the survey of the functional branch, the daily traffic volume on National Highway 13 is currently 28,000 vehicles. This number is much larger than the design traffic at the end of the operation year (2015) of 25,283 vehicles/day. Therefore, the renovation and expansion of National Highway 13 and the intersections on the route is very necessary, not only to relieve traffic pressure on this route but also create more thrust for Binh Duong urban development.
Determining the importance of upgrading and expanding National Highway 13, right after the Lunar New Year, Binh Duong province's leaders urgently went to survey the actual progress of the National Highway 13 expansion project, directed specialized agencies to focus on completing procedures, and quickly push speed up site clearance to start construction according to the set plan. At the beginning of April 2022, Binh Duong signed a BOT contract for the National Highway 13 expansion project.
Expanding from 06 lanes to 08 lanes
In 2021, the Binh Duong provincial People's Council issued a Resolution on adjusting investment policy of BOT project to upgrade and expand National Highway 13. Preliminary total investment is expected to add 1,367 billion VND. The cost of site clearance is made in the project using the provincial budget, not included in the total investment.
Additional scale: Renovating and expanding National Highway 13 from the Vinh Phu welcome gate (Km1+315) to the intersection with Le Hong Phong Street (Km15+018.28), expanding to the right 02 lanes (after expansion, it will be 08 lanes), investing in sidewalks and trees for synchronous drainage; investing in overpasses at the crossroads of Binh Hoa and Huu Nghi, with the size of 04 lanes, and other intersections being researched and expanded to increase traffic capacity; investing in a vertical drainage system combined with lighting on both sides of the road from Ben Cat to Bau Bang (Tham Rot bridge), including the following sections: Renovating and expanding from Vinh Phu welcome gate to Ong Bo bridge; renovating and expanding the section from Ong Bo bridge to Huu Nghi intersection (including overpasses at Binh Hoa and Huu Nghi intersections); renovating and expanding the section from Tu Do intersection to Le Hong Phong intersection; overpass at Hoa Lan crossroads; drainage system; lighting system, lighting power supply; supplementing Phuoc Kien intersection and the section from Huu Nghi intersection to Tu Do intersection.
National Highway 13, section from Vinh Phu welcome gate to Le Hong Phong intersection, Thu Dau Mot city (Binh Duong) with a length of 12.7km, will be expanded by 02 lanes
Thus, the National Highway 13 expansion project, the section from Vinh Phu to Le Hong Phong intersection is 12.7km long, will expand 2 more lanes from 12 to 18m wide, bringing the total number of lanes to 8 lanes, the road surface width from 39.5 to 40.5m. On National Highway 13, the bridge over the Huu Nghi intersection - Binh Hoa crossroads has a scale of 880m long and 17m wide; bridge over Hoa Lan intersection is 646m long, 17m wide; Tan Phu bridge is expanded by one unit in the direction from Ho Chi Minh City to Thu Dau Mot City, bringing the total width of the bridge to 40.5m; underpass at Cho Dinh crossroads has a scale of 02 lanes, from Yersin Street to Phu Loi Street, the length of the underpass is 450m; Phuoc Kien 5-way intersection underpass project has an expected scale of 04 lanes, from Huynh Van Cu street to Pham Ngoc Thach street, the length of the underpass is 450m.
In order to maximize the advantages of National Highway 13, many other traffic projects will also be deployed with this route to create an open transport corridor. In which, an important project is the Ring Road 3, which is connected to the first expanded National Highway 13 section (from the intersection of Tu Do Avenue to Le Hong Phong Street). Besides, the project of Ho Chi Minh City - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh (Binh Phuoc) expressway is expected to have a starting point at DT743 intersection with My Phuoc - Tan Van road, the end point intersecting with National Highway 14 at Chon Thanh and has sections connecting the Ho Chi Minh City - Thu Dau Mot - Chon Thanh expressway with the Go Dua intersection (Ring Road 2 Ho Chi Minh City).
People and enterprises agree and support
To implement the project, two localities with roads passing through are Thu Dau Mot City and Thuan An City in coordination with the Land Fund Development Center to conduct inventory and appraisal to apply compensation and site clearance prices. The route through Thuan An from Vinh Phu welcome gate to Le Hong Phong intersection, through the tally, there are 470 households and 58 organizations affected and cleared by the project, the land area expected to be recovered is 225,100 m2. The route through Thu Dau Mot city has 24 cases including 23 households, 01 organization/26 land plots affected and cleared by the project. Many households have received compensation and handed over the recovered site, hoping that the project will soon be completed and put into use in the fastest time.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tam - Chairman of Thuan An City People's Committee said that through the implementation of compensation and site clearance, the locality has received a high consensus from people, enterprises, and some areas can now be assigned to construction units to start construction.
Mr. Pham Van Trung – resident of Hoa Lan 1 quarter, Thuan Giao ward, Thuan An city shared: "I strongly support the policy of upgrading and expanding National Highway 13 through Binh Duong province. I and the people in the area of site clearance to implement the project hope the province will soon deploy the project to create new development momentum for Binh Duong province; overcome traffic congestion during peak hours as well as flooding at some points on the route during the rainy season.
Traffic congestion and flooding in the rainy season on Highway 13
Assessing the importance of upgrading and expanding National Highway 13, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Vo Van Minh said that the investment project to renovate and expand National Highway 13 is very important, continuing to create "technical framework" for socio-economic development of the province. Meeting two major goals is to relieve traffic pressure on the route and prepare for urban development. The project contributes to building Binh Duong into a civilized and modern urban area of the Southern Key Economic Region, with great spillover effects, strongly affecting neighboring provinces and surrounding areas. Therefore, in the development strategy of the province, special attention is paid to investment to promote the advantages of National Highway 13. It is expected that by 2025, with a vision to 2030, up to 17 works will pass through this section of National Highway. Besides, there are urban railway lines no. 2, 3, 5, 8; the transfer works are located at the Lotte Mart area and more than 10 urban bus routes combined with express buses, etc. The province has also planned National Highway 13, the section from Lai Thieu center to Nguyen Van Tiet street to become a busy economic, financial and service boulevard.
"Promoting strengths in infrastructure, especially upgrading and expanding National Highway 13, will expand the socio-economic development space, better serve investors, creating a sustainable development environment to build Binh Duong in the direction of a smart, civilized and modern urban area, a dynamic urban area of the Southern Key Economic Region" - emphasized the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee.
Reported by Mai Xuan- Translated by Thanh Tam