Thang Long Avenue has become a strange 'long forest'

Thang Long Avenue has a different landscape from other roads in the country thanks to the rows of trees running from the gate of the National Convention Center to the Hoa Lac intersection (Hanoi).

Thang Long Avenue is 29.264km long and is one of the main routes connecting the center of the capital with the suburban districts. The starting point of the road connecting with Trung Hoa tunnel intersection, Cau Giay district is considered the most beautiful location of the route.

Recently, when the entire route has been covered with green trees, many people have realized that Thang Long Avenue is very different from before. Image at the section passing through Me Tri ward, Nam Tu Liem district.

Along the entire route, trees such as cherry blossoms, hibiscus, grass, flowers, oil palms, etc. are planted alternately. Previously, in the program of planting 1 million new trees in the period of 2016-2020, the Hanoi People's Committee issued a document giving opinions on adding the species of chieu lieu and oil palm to the list of trees planted on streets and in public places as proposed by the Department of Construction.

Oil palms (Elaeis guineensis) are widely planted on this avenue. This is a large tree, belonging to the group of straight cylindrical coconut palms, up to 15m high, with green leaves all year round, 3-5m long, pinnately lobed leaves down to the midrib, petioles often have thorns, each coconut palm tree less than 10 years old usually produces about 20-30 leaves each year.

For trees over 10 years old, they usually produce 10-20 leaves per year, flowers grow in dense clusters on the top of the tree, each flower is gathered together, and ripe red fruits form clusters.

There are also thousands of other trees planted in the median strip and on both sides of sidewalks and service roads.

This is because in 2016 Hanoi stopped spending the budget on lawn trimming and ornamental flower planting to save billions of dong each year and switched to a plan to plant trees en masse.

The suspension and adjustment of pruning of ornamental trees and grass is due to the huge cost, about 700 billion VND for the districts, and 53 billion VND for Thang Long Boulevard alone each year.

According to statistics, there are currently over 45,000 trees on the boulevard, mainly oil palms planted in 4 rows. All are in the approved planning, donated by businesses or planted in the form of socialization.

Nowadays, thanks to the rows of green trees, both sides of the boulevard have become a cycling spot for Hanoians.

The green tree system also helps significantly reduce noise, reduce dust and improve air quality.

Thang Long Avenue starts at the intersection of Hanoi Ring Road 3 (in front of the National Convention Center), and ends at the Hoa Lac intersection with National Highway 21 - Ho Chi Minh Road. The project was opened to traffic and had its signboard installed on the occasion of the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long - Hanoi.

The boulevard consists of 2 expressways with 3 lanes each way; 2 urban roads with 2 lanes each; a median strip; 2 reserved land strips and a strip for planting trees and sidewalks. The high-pressure lighting system consists of 5 rows running along the entire route. The project has a total investment of more than 7,500 billion VND.