HCMC – Hanoi City plans to widen sections of National Highway 1 to up to 90 meters under a VND153-trillion public-private partnership project to ease congestion in the city’s southern corridor.

The Hanoi People’s Council on January 27 approved initial policy guidelines for the National Highway 1 spatial corridor project, combining road expansion with urban upgrading under a build–transfer (BT) contract. The project focuses on the Le Duan–Giai Phong–Ngoc Hoi–National Highway 1 axis, a key route linking the city center with the city's south and provinces in the Red River Delta. The corridor is more than 36 kilometers long and forms part of the national north–south transport network. Several sections are currently narrow. Inner-city stretches are about 30–40 meters wide. From Van Dien Station to the Hanoi–Ninh Binh boundary, some unreconstructed sections are only 10–15 meters wide, while others are being expanded to around 40 meters. Rising traffic volumes in recent years have caused frequent congestion. Under the proposal, the route would be expanded to a standard cross-section of 90 meters along a planned length of 36.3 kilometers. The project aims to improve traffic capacity, strengthen connections between central Hanoi and southern urban areas, and support urban restructuring along the corridor.