Metro bridge construction encountered problems, causing congestion at the gateway to Ho Chi Minh City

The increase in traffic during rush hour combined with the incident of the Metro Line 1 pedestrian bridge girder suspension caused a 3km traffic jam on Vo Nguyen Giap Street at the eastern gateway of the city on the morning of January 22.

At 6:30 a.m., vehicles began to extend the section across Rach Chiec Bridge on Vo Nguyen Giap Street (formerly Hanoi Highway), heading towards the downtown area. About 30 minutes later, thousands of vehicles continuously converged on this area, dragging the line of vehicles behind them into a long traffic jam towards RMK intersection, Thu Duc City. Cars and motorbikes covered the road, inching forward. Many vehicles turned out from the parallel road, causing conflicts with the straight direction, making the traffic jam even more intense.

"Rach Chiec Bridge is often congested during rush hour, and this morning the situation was even worse. I was stuck here for more than two hours, late for work," said Nguyen Hoang, 36 years old.

Traffic jam in front of the toll station on Rach Chiec bridge, morning of January 22. Photo: Thi Thao — Traffic jam in front of the toll station near Rach Chiec bridge on the morning of January 22. Photo: *Thi Thao*

A leader of the Cat Lai Traffic Police Team, under the HCM City Traffic Police Department, said the traffic jam was caused by the construction of a pedestrian bridge connecting Rach Chiec Station, part of the Metro Line 1 project (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien). The crane broke down, causing the construction of the bridge girder to be delayed. The problem was resolved after 7am, and the restoration of the road to traffic was 2 hours slower than previous days. Traffic through the area was cleared after 9am.

Metro bridge construction encountered problems, causing congestion at the gateway to Ho Chi Minh City — Traffic jam on Vo Nguyen Giap Street. Video: *Thi Thao*

A representative of the HCM City Urban Railway Management Board (investor of Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien Metro) also said that the construction of the pedestrian bridge on the Hanoi - Vo Nguyen Giap highway will only be carried out at night, from 10pm to 5am the following day. Last night, the contractor restricted traffic on a section of Vo Nguyen Giap Street to install the girders.

The pedestrian bridge beam connecting Rach Chiec elevated station was installed on the morning of January 22. Photo: Dinh Van — The pedestrian bridge beam connecting Rach Chiec elevated station was completed on the morning of January 22. Photo: *Dinh Van*

Pedestrian bridges are installed on 9 elevated stations of Metro Line 1 to connect bus stations and residential areas. Most of the bridges are built along the Hanoi - Vo Nguyen Giap highway. It is expected that all bridges will be completed by mid-year to serve metro operations in July. Currently, the urban railway project is nearly 20 km long, with a total investment of more than 43,700 billion VND, and has completed 98% of the volume.