After three years of construction, the Ha Long – Hai Phong Expressway and Bach Dang Bridge will open to traffic on Saturday.

As some supporting facilities are still being built, Quang Ninh authorities have proposed reducing the maximum speed on the expressway to 80km per hour. Once the project has been fully approved, the speed limit will rise to the designed 100km per hour.

Before the final project approval, only cars, buses and coaches can drive on the expressway.

Expressway users will not have to pay toll fees as the project was funded by the State, but they will have to pay a bridge fee as it was constructed under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model.

Built at a cost of VND13 trillion (US$557 million), the 24.6km long Ha Long – Hai Phong Expressway connects Highway 18 in Ha Long City’s Dai Yen Ward with the Ha Noi – Hai Phong Expressway in Hai Phong City’s Hai An District.

Also built at a cost of VND7.3 trillion ($313 million), the 5.4km long bridge, spanning the Bach Dang River, will help cut travel distance from Ha Noi to Quang Ninh from 175km to 125km.

The project will cut the distance between Ha Noi and Ha Long from 180km to 130km and the Ha Long – Hai Phong route from 75km to 25km. — VNS