HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — Rach Chiec Bridge No 2 on the Eastern Belt Road in HCM City's District 9 opened to traffic yesterday, and it will be formally inaugurated before the Lunar New Year in early February.

The bridge is 868m long and cost VND871 billion (US$40 million). It has four lanes in the first phase going one way from the Phu My Bridge to the Ha Noi Highway. Four more will be added in the second phase at an undecided later date.

The bridge is a key link in travel from the Sai Gon High-tech Park in District 9 to Cat Lai Port in District 2, Hiep Phuoc Seaport in Nha Be District, and Phu My Bridge.

It is expected to ease congestion around the city's eastern gateway and generally improve traffic flow in the city.

It helps complete a beltway around the city. Under the master plan, Belt Road No 2 will run 70 km from Nguyen Van Linh Street in District 7 through the Phu My Bridge, Eastern Belt Road, Binh Thai intersection on the Ha Noi Highway, and Go Dua intersection on National Highway No 1 before competing the circle at Nguyen Van Linh.

When the bridge is complete, trucks going from seaports and the Mekong Delta to the south-eastern region will no longer have to pass through the city's downtown.

An Hao Bridge

Ground was broken yesterday for the An Hao Bridge linking Highways 1 and 1K with Highway 51 in the southern province of Dong Nai.

Construction is expected to begin next month, and the bridge is likely to open to traffic 18 months afterwards. The 475.5-metre-long, 23-metre-wide bridge, built in BOT (build-operation-transfer) mode and expected to cost more than 1 trillion ($44.5 million), will help ease traffic congestion in Bien Hoa City and its eastern entrance.

The six-lane bridge over a branch of the Dong Nai River will link Hiep Hoa Isle (or Pho Isle) and the intersection of Highways 1 and 51 near the Vung Tau Intersection.

Tran Van Vinh, vice chairman of the Dong Nai Province People's Committee, said the province has instructed the builder — Construction Corporation No.1 — to work with relevant agencies and quickly complete the bridge to open it to traffic next year.

The bridge and nearby roads will help connect the financial, commercial and service center being built inside Bien Hoa 1 Industrial Zone with Pho Isle, a cultural and eco-tourism destination in Bien Hoa.

Le Quang Binh, deputy director of the Dong Nai Department of Transport, said the toll for the An Hao Bridge project would be collected at the Dong Nai Bridge toll booth.

In October Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved the bridge and its related components to be added to a larger project, the New Dong Nai Bridge. — VNS