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If the highway is evident, it takes half-hour for her to get to work. Throughout rush hour or unhealthy climate, it takes about 1.5-2.5 hours to move via the worst visitors spots, like Truong Chinh Road, Nga Tu So Road, and Lang Road.
However because the Tet (Lunar Yr Pageant) approaches, Phuong, 27 from Hai Ba Trung District, spends greater than three hours on a single journey, as a result of all of the roads are jammed in all instructions. Tet, Vietnam’s largest and most essential pageant, will final from Feb. 8 to 14, 2024. The standard pageant will peak on Feb. 10.
“As an alternative of solely being jammed within the early morning and late afternoon, all giant and small roads within the metropolis are full of autos from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.,” Phuong mentioned. The jams induced her to reach at work late each morning, costing her a high quality of VND100,000 ($4.1) every time.
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Motorcyclists navigate sidewalks to bypass visitors jams. Picture by VnExpress/ Pham Chieu |
Because the advertising supervisor for a stone import-export firm in Cau Giay District, Hong Hanh, 35 years previous, residing in Lengthy Bien District, has to attend many essential conferences. However lots of instances, when assembly time has began, she would nonetheless be caught on the overpass 2 km from the corporate, forcing Hanh to cease at a espresso store to modify to a web based assembly.
Specifically, visitors congestion within the final months of the yr on primary roads in lots of central districts have induced Hanh to be late for appointments with enterprise companions on a number of events, inflicting her to be scolded by her boss.
“It is barely 1-2 pm on weekdays however many large streets like Kim Ma, Nguyen Thai Hoc, and Phan Boi Chau are lined with vehicles, and motorbikes need to both go on the sidewalk or get caught in a single place. Going out on the finish of the yr is like going to warfare as a result of it’s important to calculate your path and keep away from going too deep – making it troublesome to show again,” Hanh mentioned.
Congestion all through the town make shipper Huu Nghia, 45 years previous, afraid to exit. In earlier months, he solely wanted to rearrange his schedule to keep away from rush hour and notably troublesome visitors spots, however now “there isn’t any method to keep away from it.
“I all the time attempt to wriggle out of the gang of autos, however I am all the time half-hour to an hour late delivering items to clients. To not point out on wet days, being just a few hours late is regular,” mentioned the native of northern province of Hung Yen.
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Kilometer-long visitors jam on Nguyen Thai Hoc Road, Dong Da District, captured at 2:00 p.m., Jan. 25, 2024. Picture by VnExpress/Quynh Nguyen |
Visitors jams no matter time of day through the Tet vacation are a priority for many individuals within the capital. Each social media put up about this case attracts hundreds of feedback. Each time the climate adjustments, the variety of picture posts of individuals caught on the highway will increase sharply.
Dr. Phan Le Binh, a lecturer within the Development Engineering Program at Vietnam Japan College (Hanoi), mentioned the state of affairs isn’t new, and that visitors issues on the finish of the yr come from 5 primary causes.
One is the elevated must journey to buy and provides presents to individuals in and out of doors of the town.
Second, there are numerous vans carrying cumbersome Tet items for distribution within the metropolis.
Third, individuals flock to the streets to purchase crops and Tet gadgets offered on the sidewalks, leaving their autos parked illegally and clogging the streets.
Fourth, on the finish of the yr, many routes are in the midst of upkeep – additional reducing the quantity of drivable house on roads. Lastly, many drivers don’t obey visitors legal guidelines, and infrequently drive on sidewalks, encroaching on public transport lanes, and disobeying visitors controller’s directions.
As well as, visitors knowledgeable Nguyen Xuan Thuy, former director of Transport Publishing Home, mentioned excessive inhabitants density and urbanization are the causes of congestion.
Thuy mentioned that Hanoi at present has over 8 million registered autos together with 1.1 million vehicles, 6.7 million motorbikes, and 200,000 electrical bicycles, to not point out 1.2 million out-of-province autos. In the meantime, the proportion of land reserved for visitors within the metropolis is barely 12-13% in comparison with the usual of 20-26%.
Based on Director of the Hanoi Division of Transport Nguyen Phi Thuong, the variety of private autos has elevated by 4-5% in recent times, however the progress pace of transport infrastructure improvement has been solely 0.6%, inflicting Hanoi to “all the time be chasing however by no means managed to achieve its objective.”
A brand new report from the Hanoi Division of Transport additionally reveals that the visitors density on many Hanoi roads exceeds their supposed design by 6-8 instances. For instance, Le Van Luong – To Huu Road’s visitors density is 1.1-1.7 instances its design; Chuong Duong Bridge is 8 instances; Nguyen Trai Road, in Thanh Xuan District, which is about 3.4 km lengthy, has a visitors density of three.3-5.6 instances its design throughout rush hours.
Statistics from 2023 present that the town has 37 congestion factors, 10 of that are newly shaped and 27 have been current factors from 2022.
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Disarrayed visitors congestion on the intersection of Nguyen Khang Road and Yen Hoa Bridge, Cau Giay District, within the afternoon of Jan. 24, 2024. Picture by VnExpress/Quynh Nguyen |
Uninterested in crawling inch by inch through visitors, Hong Hanh persuaded her husband – who owns their home in central Hanoi’s Ha Dong District, to purchase a smaller condo in Cau Giay District.
“Despite the fact that the brand new place is small, I discover it affordable as a result of my husband and I are near work and the kids’s faculty. There are additionally lots of shortcuts close by, permitting us to quickly keep away from congestion,” Hanh mentioned. On days when she goes out to satisfy enterprise companions, she leaves 1-1.5 hours early to make sure that she arrives on time.
It was troublesome to relocate because of the nature of his job, so shipper Huu Nghia got here up with the concept of delaying his supply deadline till after 7 pm for non-urgent orders, which was accredited by his retailer homeowners. For “specific” packages, the 45-year-old man will analysis shortcuts and keep away from primary roads.
“Delivering items within the night shall be extra tiring as a result of you’ve gotten labored all day, the temperature has additionally dropped sharply, however the roads are clear and you may as well save fuel,” Nghia mentioned.
To keep away from inflicting inconvenience and fatigue to drivers, visitors knowledgeable Nguyen Xuan Thuy suggests some options resembling upgrading infrastructure and making roads wider. Specifically, public transportation should meet timing necessities and will arrive on time, alongside good service to stimulate extra calls for. We must always not construct too many condo buildings within the metropolis middle, and we must always put money into methods to open up extra satellite tv for pc cities to skinny out inhabitants density.
Dr. Phan Le Binh, alternatively, identified that not all people can use public transportation attributable to geographical location, and metropolis routes are additionally laborious to alter in a brief period of time. Subsequently, he mentioned, the easiest way to reduce congestion throughout Tet is for the authorities to divert visitors and resolve potential jams. Organize parking spots in areas with a excessive variety of retailers promoting Tet gadgets to keep away from conditions the place autos are parked freely on the highway, the physician recommended.
“However a very powerful factor is to boost consciousness amongst drivers about obeying visitors legal guidelines, present extra choices to autos, and assist keep away from encroachment over visitors lanes…or danger creating extra congestion,” he added.
Uninterested in having to journey via at the very least 5 severe visitors jams every single day, Phuong determined to hire a room close to her office earlier than the Lunar New Yr. Her new abode is dearer, is deep inside a small alley, and has little to no facilities, however Phuong mentioned she remains to be glad as a result of it solely takes quarter-hour to journey forwards and backwards from her job. Every single day when she comes house from work, she nonetheless has time to eat and relaxation.