Bridge repairs cause congestion on expressway in southern Vietnam

Vehicles crawled along the expressway from 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm.

The traffic jam worsened as more vehicles joined, leaving many drivers visibly exhausted from the long wait.

The gridlock resulted from repair work on Long Thanh Bridge.

Workers closed part of the road to repair the bridge’s expansion joints, significantly narrowing the traffic lane.

Despite the presence of traffic police assisting with traffic flow, the sheer volume of vehicles and the lack of alternative routes contributed to the hours-long snarl-up.

Vietnam Expressway Services Engineering JSC (VECE), the manager of the expressway, had earlier announced plans to partially block the expressway for maintenance.

The repair of the expansion joint on Long Thanh Bridge is expected to last 15 days, starting from Tuesday.

To ensure safety, the construction team has barricaded half of the left side of the bridge, in the direction of Dong Nai to Ho Chi Minh City, and imposed speed restrictions in the area.

In addition to bridge maintenance, the firm is also upgrading the expressway’s Intelligent Transportation System.

A traffic police officer told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Wednesday that the lane closure on Long Thanh Bridge was the key factor causing the prolonged congestion.

To ease the situation, officers closed the entrance from Road 319 to the expressway, forcing vehicles to turn back.

Additionally, access to the National Highway 51 junction was shut down, redirecting traffic from the expressway to National Highway 51 and then onto National Highway 1.