HCMC – Ben Tre and Vinh Long provinces have held talks to discuss the development of a new bridge spanning over the Tien River to link the two Mekong Delta localities and replace the existing Dinh Khao ferry services, said a local transport official.

Cao Minh Duc, director of the Ben Tre Province Transport Department, said yesterday, December 23, that the two provinces mapped out three plans to build the Dinh Khao Bridge. Under the first plan, the project will stretch six kilometers. The main bridge will be 1.8 kilometers long, 12 meters wide and have two lanes. It will be 1.2 kilometers away from the Dinh Khao ferry terminal and require over VND2 trillion in investment. Under the second plan, the project will have a total length of over 11 kilometers. The length of the main and auxiliary bridges will be 1.5 kilometers, with four lanes and around VND2.4 trillion in investment. It will be 5.5 kilometers away from the ferry terminal. For the third plan, which costs some VND3.1 trillion, the project will be 17 kilometers long. Of this, the main bridge will be 1.6 kilometers long and 11 kilometers away from the ferry terminal. The bridge project is scheduled for completion in 2030. In recent years, the Dinh Khao ferry terminal has frequently failed to meet the soaring travel demand among passengers and vehicles on National Highway 57, resulting in traffic congestion, especially during the holidays. Accordingly, the construction of the bridge is expected to facilitate the traffic flow on the route and bolster regional socioeconomic growth.