The closer to the highway, the further away the stop is.
On December 24, millions of people in the West and Ho Chi Minh City were excited to welcome the biggest "Christmas gift" ever, which is My Thuan 2 Bridge and My Thuan - Can Tho Expressway. Officially opened to traffic, My Thuan - Can Tho Expressway has connected the complete expressway strip from Ho Chi Minh City to the agricultural granary of the Mekong Delta with a total distance of about 135 km, shortening travel time to only 2 hours, instead of 4 hours as before. Notably, although the vital expressway to the West has been connected, all 3 sections still only "share" 1 rest stop on the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong route, located at Km 28+200 (Thu Thua District, Long An). This rest stop also had to wait 7 years after the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Expressway was inaugurated, before it was put into operation, in 2016. During those 7 years, many drivers had to turn their cars down to intersections to let passengers take care of their personal needs, then turn back to the expressway.
By April 2022, the Trung Luong - My Thuan expressway, more than 51 km long, running through Tien Giang province, was put into use, bringing with it the hope that a new rest stop would be formed. However, this route also has no emergency lanes or rest stops because the project is invested in phases, and phase 1 does not include these items. In urgent need, Tien Giang province has urged relevant units to find investors to implement the rest stop project on the Trung Luong - My Thuan expressway with a scale of more than 98,000 m2 , including parking lots, rest areas, temporary rest rooms for drivers, restrooms, gas stations and many other services... with a total investment of 335 billion VND. However, due to difficulties in funding for the road connecting to the expressway, this project is still sluggishly under construction. More than 130 km of highway to the West has no safe rest stop, making many drivers angry.
The newly inaugurated My Thuan - Can Tho Expressway also has no rest stops.
This situation also happened similarly when the Phan Thiet - Dau Giay and Vinh Hao - Phan Thiet expressways were put into operation but there was no place to stop, so they had to "borrow" the rest stop on the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh expressway. Previously, this rest stop mainly served passengers from Ho Chi Minh City to Vung Tau and a few to Phan Thiet, so it was quite comfortable, almost never a traffic jam. However, since the Phan Thiet - Dau Giay and Vinh Hao - Phan Thiet expressways were put into operation, the number of passengers going to Binh Thuan, Da Lat, Nha Trang, etc. has increased significantly. More than 250 km of the entire Ho Chi Minh City - Dau Giay - Phan Thiet - Vinh Hao route has only one rest stop, so all vehicles tend to crowd here, causing serious overload.
"If we don't stop at the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh highway, we have to drive another 300 kilometers to Vinh Hao to find a rest stop on the connecting road to the next highway. By then, we'll be almost at Nha Trang. Not to mention if we accidentally go too far, it will take us a few dozen kilometers to turn back. I drive, I'm willing to be a little tired, but in many cases, when the car has problems or I'm carrying a family with small children and need to stop to use the restroom, it's very difficult and unsafe. Therefore, the longer the highway, the longer the way to the rest stop," said Minh Quang (living in Thu Duc City), who often drives back to his hometown in Nha Trang.
Opened on the same day as the My Thuan - Can Tho Expressway, the Tuyen Quang - Phu Tho route also has neither a rest stop nor a continuous emergency lane. This is a project that people in the northeastern provinces are looking forward to because when completed, the distance from Tuyen Quang City to Hanoi will be shortened from 3 hours to nearly 2 hours. The road also plays an important role when connecting with the Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang Expressway, which is under construction. However, due to difficulties in funding, the project had to be divided into investment phases and in the first phase there were only 4 lanes, instead of emergency lanes, emergency strips were arranged intermittently on the route.
Construction of a series of stations will begin this year.
Speaking to Thanh Nien , a representative of the Ministry of Transport said that the shortcomings of the expressway system lacking rest stops and emergency lanes have been identified by the Ministry and specific solutions have been implemented. The principle is that for new projects that are being prepared for implementation, rest stops must be planned, built and operated in sync with the expressway project. With 9 rest stops belonging to the North-South expressway projects in the East that have been completed and will be completed in 2024, the Department of Expressways and the Project Management Boards under the Ministry of Transport are making efforts to complete bidding procedures and select investors. Rest stops on newly put into operation expressways will be prioritized for the fastest implementation, not slower than expressway projects that are about to be implemented.
To meet the operational requirements on expressways, the needs of traffic participants, and put into operation synchronously with expressways that have been and will be put into operation, the Ministry of Transport has approved the network of rest stops on the North-South expressway in the East from Lang Son to Ca Mau in Decision No. 938 with a total of 36 stations. The Expressway Department has also approved the contents of the List of investment projects for construction and operation of rest stops at 6 component projects of the North-South expressway in the East with 7 pairs of rest stops belonging to the component projects: Mai Son - QL45; Nghi Son - Dien Chau; Nha Trang - Cam Lam; Cam Lam - Vinh Hao; Phan Thiet - Dau Giay (each project has 1 pair of stations) and Vinh Hao - Phan Thiet (2 pairs of stations).
"Currently, the units have organized bidding and open bidding on the National Bidding Network. After closing the documents, the units will organize bidding evaluation, announce the winning investor, and then implement. It is expected that the projects will be able to start construction in the second quarter. Due to the large scale of the stations, with rest stops of up to more than 10 hectares, the construction time may last from 1 to 1.5 years," the representative of the Ministry of Transport added.
According to the list of documents and the call for investors announced by the Department of Roads, investors building 7 pairs of rest stops on the North-South Expressway will have to build 3 groups of works including: Public service group such as parking lots, temporary rest rooms for drivers, toilets; places to provide information, launch propaganda on traffic safety; places for rescue workers, first aid for traffic accidents. Service group includes areas for food and beverage service; areas for introducing and selling goods; fuel stations; electric vehicle charging stations; vehicle maintenance and repair workshops; car washes; restaurants; entertainment and recreation areas for children and auxiliary works to meet the needs of the people. Group of auxiliary works such as introducing local products, places for community activities, etc.
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