Ho Chi Minh City Thu Thiem 4 Bridge can raise and lower the main span for large ships to enter and exit the central area, the investment cost is lower than building a fixed height of 45 m or making a tunnel, ensuring aesthetics.
The design of Thu Thiem 4 Bridge, which is over 2 km long, has 6 lanes, crossing the Saigon River, and has just been submitted to the City Appraisal Council for consideration by the Department of Transport. The starting point of the project connects Nguyen Van Linh Avenue at the intersection with the Tan Thuan 2 Bridge approach road, District 7. The end point connects Nguyen Co Thach Street at the intersection with Route R4 in Thu Thiem New Urban Area, Thu Duc City.
According to the proposed plan, Thu Thiem 4 Bridge has a normal operating clearance of 15 m, but the main span can be raised to 45 m, through two towers and a lifting system. The project has a total cost of about 6,030 billion VND (including interest), invested in the form of BOT (build - operate - transfer). Of which, the budget contributes 49.5%.
Perspective of the main span of Thu Thiem 4 Bridge being raised to allow large ships to pass. Video: Tuan Viet
Commenting on the Thu Thiem 4 bridge construction plan, Dr. Chu Cong Minh, a bridge and road specialist at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, said that the lifting bridge solution has been applied in some countries, such as the Pont Jacques Chaban - Delmas bridge in France. This is a unique and flexible design for large ships to move, while not requiring much area for approach roads like bridges with high clearance.
However, according to Mr. Minh, the above design has the limitation of easily causing traffic jams because vehicles have to stop and wait for each time a large ship is lifted to pass. Meanwhile, Thu Thiem 4 Bridge, when put into operation, will be the main traffic axis connecting Thu Thiem to South Saigon, with a lot of traffic. "Therefore, the coordination of ships, the lifting and lowering of the bridge spans and the organization of surrounding traffic must be studied comprehensively from the beginning," he said.
A representative of a business specializing in seaport and maritime design consulting in Ho Chi Minh City also commented that the solution of increasing the Thu Thiem 4 bridge’s navigation span to 45m will be synchronized with Phu My bridge, helping large passenger ships enter and exit Nha Rong - Khanh Hoi port. In the future, when this place is converted into an international port, tourists on sea tours can enter the city center, stimulating the development of the tourism industry.
According to him, unlike Thu Thiem and Ba Son bridges, the clearance height only needs to be 10 meters because there is no port for large ships to enter and exit in the area. Thu Thiem 4 is located at the gateway to Nha Rong - Khanh Hoi port, so if it is built low, it will greatly affect this place. However, if it is built as high as Phu My bridge, the project will destroy the landscape in the area because it requires a very long access road.
"If we build a tunnel under the river, in addition to the planning impact, the investment capital will be almost twice as expensive. Not to mention, the maintenance cost of the tunnel will also be quite expensive when put into operation," he said.
Saigon River flowing through Nha Rong - Khanh Hoi wharf. Photo: Quynh Tran
Mr. Nguyen Kim Toan, Director of Thuong Nhat Company Limited, the investor of the river bus route in Ho Chi Minh City, said that the design of raising and lowering the bridge spans is a technical solution that the French used more than 100 years ago on some bridges in old Saigon. Nowadays, with modern technology, this design is not difficult to construct.
According to him, Thu Thiem 4 Bridge is designed to be able to be raised and lowered to facilitate waterway traffic. At the same time, the project will create an architectural and landscape highlight on the Saigon River as well as attract tourism and exploit the advantages of the Nha Rong - Khanh Hoi wharf area in the future.
A representative of the city's Department of Transport said that the route and 15m clearance are suitable for planning. The design of the main span that can be raised and lowered is just a technical solution, to facilitate the passage of large ships. This helps develop waterway transportation and tourism, aiming to exploit the potential of the urban space of Nha Rong - Khanh Hoi port in the future.
Faced with concerns that raising and lowering the main span of the bridge would cause traffic jams, a representative of the Department said that future traffic organization plans would be taken into account with time restrictions, and the bridge would only be raised and lowered at night when there were few vehicles. "There will not be many large passenger ships passing through every day, while current technology is automatic, only taking a few minutes to raise and lower, so it does not have a big impact on surrounding traffic," he said, adding that this design has been applied in many countries. In Da Nang, the Han River swing bridge has a different design but the traffic organization is similar.
Location of Thu Thiem 4 bridge construction. Ho Chi Minh City is also seeking investment options for the Can Gio and Cat Lai bridge projects. Graphics: Khanh Hoang
According to the representative of the Department of Transport, in addition to the plan to raise and lower the main span of Thu Thiem 4 Bridge, many other plans have been considered. In particular, the bridge design has a fixed clearance of 10 m and 15 m, with an investment cost of about 4,365 billion VND and 4,840 billion VND, respectively. These two methods are in line with the planning, but the height does not meet the needs of large ships entering and leaving Nha Rong - Khanh Hoi Port - which is oriented to be an international passenger port, developing tourism.
The two remaining options are Thu Thiem 4 Bridge with a fixed clearance of 45 m or building a tunnel across the Saigon River, with total investment of more than VND8,000 billion and nearly VND9,000 billion respectively (excluding interest). "In addition to the large cost and difficulty in recovering capital for investors, these two options are difficult to implement due to the impact on planning in the new urban area of Thu Thiem as well as District 7," said a representative of the Department.
Thu Thiem 4 Bridge is one of the key projects in Ho Chi Minh City. The project is built to promote the development of Thu Thiem Urban Area, shortening the time from Thu Duc and Binh Thanh to districts 7, 8, Nha Be, Binh Chanh. The bridge also helps reduce pressure on existing roads such as Ton Duc Thang, Nguyen Tat Thanh, Khanh Hoi bridge, Huynh Tan Phat - Nguyen Van Linh, Tan Thuan industrial park...
According to the plan, there are 5 bridges and a tunnel connecting Thu Thiem New Urban Area with the city center. Currently, Thu Thiem 1 Bridge, Ba Son Bridge and the Saigon River Tunnel on Vo Van Kiet - Mai Chi Tho Avenue are in operation. In addition to Thu Thiem 4 Bridge, Thu Thiem 3 Bridge connecting this urban area to District 4 and the pedestrian bridge through District 1 have not been invested yet.
Gia Minh
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