Building highways, what is the standard?

Chaotic highway, many problems

In the latest directive from the Government Office, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha requested the Ministry of Transport to report to the Prime Minister on the construction plan, construction bases, international experience, and proposed draft framework for expressway standards, before November 30.

Due to the lack of standards, few highways have rest stops. The photo shows a rest stop on the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay highway.

The process of developing standards requires studying international experience, summarizing the practice of investment in construction of expressway projects in recent times and ensuring that it is suitable for actual conditions in Vietnam; organizing to collect opinions from ministries, branches, localities, relevant agencies and experts and scientists.

Telegram No. 79 of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, signed on September 12, 2023

Previously, in Official Dispatch No. 79 signed on September 12, 2023, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh assessed that in the past time, the Ministry of Transport has actively coordinated with ministries, branches and localities to drastically implement projects to build important national transport infrastructure, initially achieving some encouraging results, contributing to the socio-economic development of the country. Of which, 8/11 component projects of the North-South expressway in the East in the period of 2017 - 2020 have been put into use, increasing the total length of expressways nationwide to 1,822 km; started construction of 12 component projects of the North-South expressway in the East in the period of 2021 - 2025; started construction of the expressway projects Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot, Bien Hoa - Vung Tau, Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang, Ho Chi Minh City Ring Road 3, Ring Road 4 of the Hanoi Capital Region, etc.

However, there are still some problems related to investment in construction of traffic infrastructure such as: some expressways do not have continuous emergency lanes, operating speed is limited; some expressways have only 2 lanes; the arrangement and investment in construction of traffic intersections, especially the width and connection of expressways with the local traffic network to enter industrial parks, urban areas, tourism, and services are still unreasonable...

In fact, the shortcomings related to the expressway system are one of the "hottest" issues of the transportation industry in recent times. Each expressway is built with a different scale, different number of lanes, different maximum speed regulations and different management methods. Even on the same expressway, there are many inconsistent regulations. For example, on the North-South expressway, the Phap Van - Cau Gie section has 6 lanes but the 4 middle lanes are allowed to run at 100 km/h, the 2 rightmost lanes are only allowed to run at 80 km/h, after the Cau Gie section, it is narrowed to only 4 lanes but the maximum speed is 120 km/h, regardless of lane.

Similarly, the Hanoi - Hai Phong expressway has 6 lanes, the 2 innermost lanes on the left side each side have a maximum speed of 120 km/h, the outermost lane on the right side has a maximum speed of 100 km/h, the next section from Hai Phong to Van Don has a speed of 100 km/h, but the next section from Van Don to Mong Cai, the allowed speed is 120 km/h. Or the Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong expressway is planned as a type A expressway, with a design speed of 120 km/h, but shortly after being put into operation, the maximum speed was reduced to 100 km/h, the minimum speed from 80 km/h to only 60 km/h.

To promptly resolve these problems, the Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Transport to urgently develop and promulgate expressway design standards under its authority as a basis for planning, designing, investing in construction and managing the expressway system and connecting intersections; as a basis for determining investment rates, mobilizing investment capital for appropriate expressway construction, ensuring publicity, transparency, efficiency, avoiding loss, waste, and group interests. The content of the standards should pay attention to regulations on the number of lanes, cross-sections, medians, emergency lanes, design speeds, rest stops, etc.; principles for arranging and organizing scientific and effective intersections, the width and design speed of intersections suitable for the speed of the expressway to ensure convenient, safe, effective exploitation and operation, in accordance with the requirements and conditions of socio-economic development of localities, etc.

Nowadays, the socio-economic conditions of our country have improved, so it also requires constructions that meet higher standards and regulations. Increasing the speed of highways also requires raising safety standards.

Road and bridge expert Vu Duc Thang

There are standards, why do we still need regulations?

Speaking to Thanh Nien , an official from the Ministry of Transport explained clearly: Although there is still no standard framework, it does not mean that the system of more than 1,000 km of expressways in Vietnam that has been and has recently been put into operation has been built freely. Since 1997, the Expressway Design Standards have been approved by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, applied to the design of extra-urban expressways as well as the renovation and upgrading of all types of expressways into expressways. At that time, building expressway infrastructure required huge investment capital and synchronous and unified technical standards from the project planning, detailed design, construction to operation management. However, to avoid wasting money in applying technical indicators in the use of processes and standards, it is necessary to choose them reasonably and satisfactorily while still ensuring basic criteria such as: large traffic volume, continuous traffic, high operating speed and safety.

However, after that, through the development and operation process, there were some technical indicators that needed to be reviewed and revised, so in 2012, the Ministry of Science and Technology issued TCVN 5729:2012 to replace, update and supplement some technical contents. In which, it detailed the classification of 4 levels of expressways (corresponding to the prescribed speed of 60 km/h, 80 km/h, 100 km/h and 120 km/h), cross-section, protection corridor, slope, design of sections, median strips, balancing the number of lanes, arrangement of auxiliary lanes... In addition, most recently in 2022, the General Department of Roads issued an additional "Basic standards for design and organization of expressways in the investment and construction phase" to guide on design options, stating requirements, solutions, and design standards that need to be applied in the investment phase of expressways.

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Chung, former Director of the State Appraisal Department of Construction Quality (Ministry of Construction), assessed that the current technical standards for highway design are quite complete, from route design to specific works, designed to ensure safety and approach world standards. In particular, the definition of a standard highway is still valid: It is a road built for vehicles to travel on that route at high speed and continuously, the top priority requirement is to ensure safety. Not only Vietnam but also some countries build highway systems based only on standards without issuing regulations.

Many new highways are put into use but are narrow and have limited speed.

NGOC THANG - THE QUANG

However, according to the Law on Technical Standards and Regulations, technical regulations are mandatory requirements that must be complied with; while technical standards are documents guiding the design, construction, management, exploitation and operation... providing solutions to implement and comply with the conditions of the standards. "For example, the Vietnamese civil construction industry is widely applying Standard 02, which is a standard on natural conditions in Vietnam such as wind, storms, earthquakes... Any construction project in Vietnam must use the data of this standard for design, and must comply," Mr. Tran Chung gave specific evidence.

Regarding the story of highways, to ensure the goal of vehicles running at high speed continuously and safely, the design will require many solutions such as having a median strip, no level crossings, having an emergency lane, having some accompanying service infrastructure works such as rest stops, etc. Fully meeting these factors is the only way to form a standard highway. However, in the past, due to financial difficulties, Vietnam applied standards to differentiate investments, leading to a situation where some highways do not meet all of the above standards, such as some routes with only 2 lanes, no emergency lanes but instead emergency stops, no median strip, etc. In addition, there is no planning for rest stops, so most highways currently do not have rest stops.

"If these conditions are upgraded to highway design standards, they must be followed. All highways will have to meet these requirements," Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Chung clearly stated.

Need to update technology and international standards

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Chung, if new standards for highways are to be developed, it is necessary to establish a project to develop the standards, which must clarify what problems will be solved, the scope and detailed content of the standards. At the same time, in the compilation process, it is necessary to consult the corresponding international standards, because if the standards are developed, if foreign enterprises participate in the design of the highways in the future, they will have to comply with those standards. In addition to ensuring general technical requirements to achieve the most important goal of the highway, it must also be compatible with the socio-economic conditions, regional conditions and geology in each area.

For example, TCVN 5729:2012 currently classifies 4 levels of highways: 60 km/h, 80 km/h, 100 km/h and 120 km/h. The maximum speed is regulated depending on the terrain conditions of the area. Meanwhile, in the US or Europe, the road traffic system is mainly highways, with very high traffic speeds (100 - 200 km/h), and some countries even have freeways with no speed limit such as Germany. The "standard" in the world is that vehicles run on highways at high speeds, which can be very high but must ensure continuity and absolute safety. Vietnam cannot expect that having highway standards requires all vehicles to be raised to 100 km/h, 120 km/h like internationally. The problem is that for each type of highway, there must be accompanying technical standards to ensure safety for vehicles operating continuously at that speed.

Not all highways have rest stops, in the photo is a rest stop on the Hanoi - Hai Phong highway.

"Expressways that allow speeds of 100 km/h and 120 km/h must be covered with an adhesive layer, must have a median strip, and must not have level crossings... Routes that allow speeds of 60 km/h and 80 km/h may not need an adhesive layer. Regulations on the number of lanes, cross-sections... are the same. There can be expressways with 3, 4 or 8 lanes, based on traffic volume and demand to choose the corresponding number of lanes. But most importantly, expressways must always have emergency lanes, median strips, and rest stops," said Mr. Tran Chung.

Bridge and road expert Vu Duc Thang expects that after the highway standards are in place, Vietnam's highway network will be applied uniformly across the country according to specific criteria: what size the road is classified as, what regulations must be made, how to do it, how wide it must be, what speed... Besides, in the context of science and technology development, vehicle technology changes every day, with the appearance of electric vehicles, driverless vehicles... then the design and construction standards for highways must also be updated to meet practical needs.

According to Mr. Thang, standards and regulations cannot be fixed but must be regularly updated, supplemented, and improved in accordance with the scientific, technical, and socio-economic development of each country. Each standard usually has a purpose in 3 stages: when there is no highway; when it has been contacted and implemented; after a period of exploitation. Vietnam has gone through 2 stages of standard change, corresponding to the process of scientific, technical, and socio-economic development of the country. In which, in stage 2, it is forced to accept incomplete highways due to lack of funds and investment phases; because the road has not been completed according to the plan, it must be opened to traffic to ensure the urgent need for socio-economic development. Therefore, it is inevitable that there will be shortcomings and inadequacies.

"Currently, our country's socio-economic conditions have improved, so it also requires projects that meet higher standards and regulations. Increasing the speed of highways also requires raising safety standards. Higher-tech cars also require higher standards... This is a whole research project that requires a research team with sufficient capacity and expertise, international consultation and broad opinions from scientists," Mr. Vu Duc Thang emphasized.

Research on investment in expanding the North-South expressway, Cao Bo - Mai Son section

The Ministry of Transport has just assigned the Thang Long Project Management Board to prepare a report proposing the investment policy for the Cao Bo - Mai Son expressway section. The implementation period is from 2023 - 2024. The consulting unit is studying the expansion of this route to a complete scale (6 lanes). The proposed investment capital is arranged from the increased budget revenue source. Previously, the Ninh Binh Department of Transport had sent a document proposing the Ministry of Transport to consider investing in the expansion of the North - South expressway section Cao Bo - Mai Son to a complete 6-lane scale in accordance with the approved planning. The total proposed investment is about 2,000 billion VND. If approved, the main route will be expanded by 15.75 m of roadbed, ensuring the roadbed width of 32.75 m; the road surface width is 22.5 m. In addition, 4 bridge construction locations will invest in adding an additional unit including Cao Bo bridge, Cam bridge, QL10 overpass, and Quan Vinh bridge.

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