La Son - Tuy Loan expressway shortens the distance among regions
A continuous traffic connection
At three o'clock in the afternoon, my friend proudly enjoyed La Son - Tuy Loan expressway, with some sections compared as beautiful bows winding through green forests, on our way back from Nam Dong district to Hue city. The new road has just been put into use for nearly a year, but people in the area thought it was still a dream.
“Living here for more than 30 years, I never thought that my countryside would have such a big and beautiful road, confided Mr. Nguyen Van Le, a resident from Khe Tre town - Nam Dong district.
With nearly 10 years of construction, La Son - Tuy Loan expressway connecting cities of Hue and Da Nang has more than 36km running through Nam Dong district. Mr. Tran Quoc Phung, Chairman of this District People's Committee considers it a miracle work in terms of blotting out many sad memories of Nam Dong as a “forest of death”.
It is now clear to everyone, even to those who trade back and forth in Nam Dong, that agricultural and forestry products in this mountainous district are transported faster to provinces and cities, with a lower price and increasing competitiveness. At the same time, the road opens up opportunities to attract domestic and foreign investors for the economic and tourism development of this locality.
Not only is La Son - Tuy Loan Expressway a launching pad for Nam Dong district, but it also plays a remarkably important roles for a continuous traffic connection of Thua Thien Hue, and marks a transformation of the provincial southwestern region in a potential development of “mountainous towns” and sub-region industrial and agricultural zones...
Along with La Son - Tuy Loan expressway, more than 63km of Cam Lo - La Son expressway running through Thua Thien Hue has been completed and is ready for a technical traffic opening in the first quarter of 2023 to connect to the expressway system of central provinces, bringing Hue closer to the two ends of the country.
Besides the expressways, the National Highway 49A and the National Highway 49B connects Hue city to the west mountain of A Luoi and to the eastern sea. Many routes are now running horizontally and vertically to create an inter-regional connection to the city center of Hue... Recently, local people of Hue city, districts of Phu Vang and Phu Loc have been very happy about the upgrade and expansion completion of the National Highway 49B from Thuan An (Hue City) to Vinh Hien. This 48km-long and 761-billion-dong route connects to the National Highway 1A (Phu Loc) via Tu Hien bridge. It will reduce the traffic flow for the National Highway 1A, as well as shortens the distance from Hue city to remote areas and vice versa.
At the northern gateway of the province, Phong Dien - Dien Loc route started from the National Highway 1A running through Phong Dien township and ended at Dien Loc beach (Phong Dien). This 16.5km-long route has a total investment of more than VND 671 billion. Currently, the completed road sections in Phong Dien town and Phong Chuong commune create a new look for local infrastructure and connect Phong Dien Industrial Park, Dong Lam Cement Factory...
Putting this route into use will reduce the flow of traffic on the Provincial Road 6 through Phong Dien center and significantly shorten the trip to Ngu Dien communes (Phong Dien) with a travel skip through My Chanh (Quang Tri). This route creates a driving force for early planning to build Dien Loc dedicated seaport (Phong Dien).
More growth momentum
Most of the roads that have been constructing are of great significance to the different development of each region and area. This route helps develop tourism, while the others develop industrial and agricultural activities, or contribute to inter-regional and inter-provincial goods circulation.
Currently, Thua Thien Hue is investing in upgrading and expanding many existing provincial roads and some connecting routes from Hue City to districts and towns, such as the routes of Western Tam Giang lagoon, Phu My - Thuan An, Mai Market - Tan My...
Another joy for people of Thua Thien Hue is the Phase 1 of the nearly 127km-long coastal route from Phong Dien to Phu Loc has started with a total investment of VND 2,400 billion, including the construction of Thuan An sea-crossing bridge with a total length of more than 2.3 km long (connecting Hai Duong commune with Thuan An ward). This route is considered a “super project” and a “golden road” because upon its completion, it will create many advantageous land funds for both sides to plan the development of tourism potential and coastal urbans, facilitate the connectivity to local transport networks, and create new impetus for a higher “take-off” of Thua Thien Hue province.
Mr. Le Anh Tuan, Director of the Department of Transport, shared that with traffic works paving the development and expanding economic and industrial zones in the area, the province's growth momentum will increase not far away as investors will put up their capital to take advantage of the infrastructure system.
From experts’ perspective, the current status of economic zones and industrial zones has improved compared to those of the previous decade, yet the local road traffic network by 2025 has not met actual needs. Therefore, more studies are needed on opening new routes for the intra-provincial transport system, especially provincial roads. At the same time, local authorities should increase the scale of existing roads as the basis to meet the development of inter-regional transport infrastructure in the future.
From that fact, the Provincial People's Committee has recently approved the proposal for adjusting nearly 20 suitable projects to soon deploy on schedule and progress in the period of 2021-2025. In the immediate future, in addition to the coastal “golden road”, the province will lengthen To Huu road with 10.26km to Phu Bai airport, construct Nguyen Hoang bridge across the Perfume River, Belt road No. 3 connecting Huong Tra Town to Hue city, upgrade and expand the Provincial Road No. 15 (with the section from Hue bypass to the border of Phu Bai Industrial Park, phase IV) and Provincial Road No. 16 connecting Tu Ha - Binh Dien, Provincial Road No. 12B connecting Kim Long - Linh Mu, Provincial Road No. 1 connecting Truong Chinh - Thuy Thanh, My An - Thuan An road, and extend Thuan Hoa road... These are prioritized projects, connecting inter-regions, and along with the external transport network will meet local development requirements.
Story, photo: Minh Van