An Khe Pass was continuously congested for hours, cars lined up for more than 10km on National Highway 19.

On the afternoon of January 27, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Vang, Deputy Head of the Traffic Police Department of Binh Dinh Province Police, said that the unit was still regulating traffic through An Khe Pass on National Highway 19 (bordering Gia Lai and Binh Dinh provinces), which has been jammed since the evening of January 26 after an incident in which a truck overturned and blocked the pass.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Vang, at around 10:30 p.m. on January 26, a truck carrying wood chips was traveling in the direction of Gia Lai - Quy Nhon. When going down An Khe Pass, the truck sank deeply into the dirt road (due to the Duong Viet Company upgrading National Highway 19) and almost completely covered the road, causing a traffic jam of more than 10km on National Highway 19.

The line of cars, about 10km long, waiting from the foot of the pass to the top in both directions, made road users and drivers extremely frustrated on the days before Tet.

The line of cars stretched about 10km from the foot of the pass to the top of the pass.

" After the incident on the evening of January 26, the Traffic Police of Binh Dinh Province had to use an excavator to break the mountain and widen the road surface to move the truck and trailer that had crashed to the side of the mountain so that other vehicles could move ," said Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Hong Vang.

By around 0:30 a.m. on January 27, traffic on National Highway 19 through An Khe Pass had cleared one lane. By 9 a.m. the same day, the tractor-trailer had been removed from the scene, but the amount of wood chips spilled onto the road after the overturn had not yet been cleared, forcing vehicles traveling through An Khe Pass to move very slowly.

At 11am, hundreds of passenger vans, trucks, vans, and cars lined up in a long line, moving little by little, causing a traffic jam from An Khe town (Gia Lai province) to Dong Pho town (Tay Son district, Binh Dinh province).

On the afternoon of January 27, the construction unit carried out gravel grading on the road surface at some locations that were muddy and at high risk of muddy and muddy conditions, while also reinforcing and expanding the road surface at some curved and arc-shaped locations on An Khe Pass, ensuring smooth traffic flow without causing congestion.

At about 5:00 p.m., An Khe pass was opened to traffic in both directions.

According to information from authorities, this week there have been 4 serious traffic jams on An Khe Pass, each lasting more than 12 hours.

Previously, at around 3am on January 25, a tractor-trailer passing through An Khe Pass got stuck in mud and could not move, causing a complete traffic jam. At around 3:45pm the same day, National Highway 19 through An Khe Pass was reopened to two-way traffic.

The 8km An Khe Pass is considered the most dangerous road on National Highway 19 as accidents often occur, especially at night. The pass is being widened from 7m to 9m with a total investment of 600 billion VND.

According to authorities, the reason for the continuous traffic congestion on this pass section over the past week is that the road section through An Khe Pass is currently being constructed by the construction unit to implement the project to enhance traffic connectivity in the Central Highlands region. While pouring crushed stone on the road surface and preparing asphalt, it continuously rained heavily, causing the road section under construction to become waterlogged.

Along with that, the large amount of traffic causes the road to collapse, causing mud in some sections and routes, making it difficult for heavy trucks to move, easily leading to congestion.

A leader of the Traffic Police Department, Binh Dinh Province Police, said that Duong Viet Company constructed 4 sections of An Khe Pass in the project to upgrade National Highway 19. However, this unit encroached on more than 60% of the road surface, causing the road to narrow, only enough for 1 car to pass in both directions up and down.

In addition, during construction, this unit also dumped mountain soil onto the road, causing slippery conditions when it rained, with no grip, so vehicles could easily sink and danger lurked.

Nguyen Gia

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