Hot with Highway 14D
A representative of a company specializing in transporting sand, soil, and rock for construction projects in and outside Quang Nam shared: “Early in the morning, I transport soil to supply construction projects; in the afternoon, I wait to get sand according to customer requests. The work is very hard because the company lacks drivers.
After Tet holiday, many drivers have agreed to drive heavy trucks to Laos to transport ore back to Vietnam, through Nam Giang International Border Gate with quite high salaries. Therefore, local businesses now have difficulty finding skilled drivers.
The above story shows that the job of driving trucks carrying ore in particular, and transporting goods in general through Nam Giang International Border Gate, which directly circulates on National Highway (QL) 14D, attracts quite a lot of drivers. That further proves that the rapid increase in heavy trucks running on this National Highway is true.
Obviously, the more freight vehicles running, the more it proves that the QL14D has been invested effectively; the economy has recovered positively, at least in terms of foreign trade. But as a result, heavy trucks have increased, and the damage to QL14D has become more serious.
Deputy Director of the Department of Transport - Mr. Tran Ngoc Thanh shared that National Highway 14D has many trucks carrying ore (vehicles with over 5 axles, total weight of about 48 tons) from Laos through Nam Giang border gate into Vietnam.
Every day, about 250 vehicles of this type travel, causing the road to deteriorate very quickly. The industry has increased maintenance to ensure traffic safety, but the maintenance budget has exceeded the prescribed level.
Built in 2002, the road surface structure after many years of use no longer meets the load and traffic volume. The asphalt surface has mostly peeled off, exposing the aggregate layer, causing dust to pollute the environment and affecting the lives of people in 5 communes in the highlands of Nam Giang.
There are 10 small, narrow curves on the route that have not been renovated, making it difficult for tractor-trailers to move, often falling into longitudinal ditches, causing long traffic jams. Traffic accidents occur frequently, causing public outrage.
The authorities confirmed that after many times of weighing the load, only one vehicle exceeded the load by 10.5%, the rest exceeded it but very slightly. At present, the ore transport vehicles ensure the load according to regulations when participating in road traffic. But as mentioned, the route has exceeded the load in terms of traffic volume.
In addition to focusing on regular and periodic maintenance, to resolve the situation, the Department of Transport must establish a support team to ensure traffic on the route; functional forces and localities are very active in coordinating to support vehicles that have problems while traveling.
Poor infrastructure
In the southwest of Quang Nam, National Highway 40B starts at Tam Thanh commune (Tam Ky) and borders Ho Chi Minh road in Kon Tum province.
Although it is the responsibility of the Central Government, but in the face of the rapid increase in vehicles leading to alarming traffic safety on the route, Quang Nam has allocated resources to invest in upgrading and expanding the section from the intersection of the road to the Da Nang - Quang Ngai Expressway (Tam Thai commune, Phu Ninh) to Tien Ky town (Tam Ky).
Currently, the Central Region Connectivity Project of Quang Nam province is under construction, so there will be an additional section of Highway 40B from Tien Ky (Tien Phuoc) to Tra My town (Bac Tra My) that will continue to be expanded.
However, the section through Nam Tra My has low technical standards, degraded road surface, and many sharp bends and will continue to be a hot spot for traffic safety.
Chief of the Provincial Traffic Safety Committee Office - Mr. Phan Duc Tien recalled the particularly serious traffic accident that occurred on the morning of July 30, 2018 at km950+700 of National Highway 1 (Vinh Dien bypass), in Dien Ban town.
Experts say that if this bypass had a median strip, the terrible head-on accident between a passenger car and a container truck would not have happened.
Up to now, Quang Nam has repeatedly requested the Ministry of Transport to pay attention to upgrading and expanding this bypass route to 2 more lanes, with a median strip because traffic volume continues to increase, with a high risk of head-on accidents.
In addition, prioritizing resources to open more lanes for non-motorized vehicles on National Highway 1, the Duy Xuyen - Phu Ninh section where traffic accidents frequently occur, with drivers of non-motorized vehicles and pedestrians being the vulnerable. In the immediate future, the relevant ministries and agencies will focus on expanding the section through sparsely populated areas, or areas without residents.
However, this legitimate and urgent wish has not been satisfactorily resolved. Motorbikes are increasingly circulating on National Highway 1. On the contrary, the lack of a dedicated lane for non-motorized vehicles causes insecurity for road users. Because they have to share the mixed lane with cars on National Highway 1, not the highway that is sharing the traffic volume of cars, as the Ministry of Transport once explained.
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