Cars will be banned from crossing the old Cau Lau bridge to ensure traffic safety

(QNO) - The Provincial People's Committee has just issued an official dispatch to the Departments of Finance, Transport, Planning and Investment, and Foreign Affairs regarding the repair of the old Cau Lau bridge (on the old National Highway 1), connecting Dien Ban town and Duy Xuyen district.

The old Cau Lau Bridge connecting Dien Ban - Duy Xuyen. Photo: CT

After considering the proposal of the Department of Finance, the opinion of the Department of Transport and the agreement of the Chairman and Vice Chairmen of the Provincial People's Committee at the meeting on July 24, 2023, the Provincial People's Committee said that the scale of the proposed investment in repairing the old Cau Lau bridge by the functional sector was too large, while capital sources were difficult, and the investment portfolio was not included in the Medium-term Investment Plan for the period 2021 - 2025.

Therefore, the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Transport to review urgent issues that need to be repaired immediately at the old Cau Lau Bridge to ensure traffic safety, serving travel from the province's regular budget; at the same time, ban cars from crossing the old bridge to ensure traffic safety (dividing cars through the new Cau Lau Bridge - PV).

In addition, the Department of Transport synthesizes the needs and proposes to repair old bridges in the province to mobilize funding sources from Korea; carries out procedures according to regulations to receive traffic monitoring equipment sets across the bridge as requested by Korea.

The Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Finance to inspect and propose to the Provincial People's Committee to allocate funds for the Department of Transport to implement early. The Department of Planning and Investment, the Department of Foreign Affairs and related sectors coordinate and guide the Department of Transport in the implementation process, prepare related procedures in mobilizing and receiving funding sources from Korea.

* As reported by Quang Nam Newspaper , on May 13, 2023, at the old Cau Lau bridge, span number 8 from the southern abutment had an incident where the railing pillar and the eastern handrail were completely cracked with a length of 11.5m. Some spans had cracks along the center of the bridge, causing traffic safety problems; the 8th bridge pillar (from North to South) sank about 30cm; the concrete of the sidewalk and handrail railings were peeling off, exposing rusted steel reinforcement.

The Provincial People's Committee has assigned the Department of Transport to urgently preside over and coordinate with relevant departments, branches, units and localities to inspect, test and load to determine the load limit for traffic.

The Department of Transport is responsible for surveying, designing and repairing railings and sidewalks; repairing horizontal connection systems to fix cracks along the bridge's centerline and other repairs and fixes after having inspection and load testing results to determine the traffic load limit.

Following the direction, the Department of Transport conducted a preliminary survey of the old bridge at the site and investigated and collected relevant documents to have a basis for proposing a repair plan and reporting to the Provincial People's Committee for consideration.

However, the old Cau Lau bridge was built a long time ago (about 55 years), the original design documents and periodic repair documents during operation (taken over by Duy Xuyen District People's Committee in 2008) have not been found yet.

The current status of the project has many items that are severely damaged, including hidden items (pillars and piles). Therefore, research and repair to ensure safety for continued use of the project will be very difficult, and the repair costs will be large.

To repair the damage and maintain the bridge's operational capacity under current conditions, the Department of Transport has proposed to the Provincial People's Committee a plan to repair the old Cau Lau bridge on a scientific basis, including monitoring and follow-up after repair.

Due to the time-consuming implementation of many small items, the functional sector expects to complete the project in 2023 - 2024. The total budget needed to be arranged is 30.5 billion VND.

Source