Early balancing of many expressways
The Ministry of Transport (MOT) has just announced the phasing of investment in expressways and proposed plans and solutions to soon invest in expanding and completing currently exploited expressways.
According to the Road Network Planning for the period 2021 – 2030, with a vision to 2050, the expressways are planned in a complete phase with a scale of 4 – 10 lanes to meet future transport needs. ensure a long-term vision.
North – South Expressway. Photo: The Anh
Because resources are limited while the need for highway investment is huge, leaders of the Ministry of Transport affirmed: “Investment phasing is a solution consistent with planning and highway design standards.”
“Transportation needs in the immediate period, the ability to balance capital and soon deploy the construction of many expressways, meeting the socio-economic development needs of localities”, said the leaders of the Ministry of Transport. nice.
The Ministry of Transport explained that the Ministry has consulted the experience of a number of countries around the world to consider investment phasing (road cross-section width) for some routes with transport needs in the early stages of operation. High; For routes with high transport demand, investment has been made immediately on a complete scale such as Hanoi – Hai Phong, Dau Giay – Phan Thiet, My Thuan 2 Bridge…
According to the Ministry of Transport, the expressways that have been put into operation in recent times all ensure quality, promoting clear effectiveness in socio-economic development, ensuring national defense – security, and resolving congestion. in large cities and contribute to reducing traffic accidents.
Choosing a rest stop investor
The Ministry of Transport acknowledges that the divergent investment in expressway scale still has some shortcomings and limitations such as: diverging investment with a cross-section width of 2 lanes, not arranging a median strip in the middle, potentially dangerous. loss of traffic safety; 4-lane roads with intermittent emergency stopping strips pose a risk of causing congestion in the event of an incident if not handled promptly; The exploitation speed during the divergence period is still limited.
Implementing the Prime Minister’s instructions, the Ministry of Transport has reviewed and reported to the Prime Minister on relevant contents and proposed solutions to soon invest in expanding and completing the expressway routes under construction. exploitation on a phased scale, including submitting to the National Assembly a draft Road Law, which includes a mechanism to allow the expansion, renovation, upgrading, and modernization of expressways in the public-private (PPP) mode. BOT contract.
Rest stop on the North-South highway through Ninh Binh province. Photo: The Anh
At the same time, develop highway design standards to promulgate in the first quarter of 2024; Accelerate completion of investment procedures to expand some routes from 2 lanes to 4 lanes and from 4 lanes to 6 lanes.
The Ministry of Transport also reviews, lists, and prioritizes investments to propose and report to competent authorities to allow the expansion of remaining routes when resource conditions are met; For new investment projects, priority should be given to investing in a complete 4-lane expressway.
In the case of investment divergence, it is necessary to carefully research and compare investment plans, combining reasonable traffic organization plans to ensure convenience, safety, and increase speed during the transportation process. operating and exploiting; Review and increase the speed of operation of some divergent investment highways to 90km/h.
For constructions serving exploitation (rest stops, gas stations…), the Ministry of Transport has developed and issued Circular No. 01/2023/TT-BGTVT dated March 7, 2023 guiding the selection of houses. investing in rest stops and at the same time approving the rest stop network on the North-South Eastern Expressway with a total of regarding 37 stations/2,063km of the entire route length.
The Ministry of Transport is urgently completing procedures for selecting rest stop investors. In the immediate future, priority will be given to 8 rest stops to serve component projects on the Eastern North-South Expressway that have been and are being prepared to put into operation. into exploitation