If the highway is obvious, 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 go by way of the worst visitors spots, like Truong Chinh Avenue, Nga Tu So Avenue, and Lang Avenue.
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 greatest and most vital competition, will final from Feb. 8 to 14, 2024. The standard competition will peak on Feb. 10.
“As an alternative of solely being jammed within the early morning and late afternoon, all massive and small roads within the metropolis are full of autos from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.,” Phuong mentioned. The jams prompted her to reach at work late each morning, costing her a tremendous of VND100,000 ($4) every time.
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Motorcyclists navigate sidewalks to avoid visitors jams. Photograph by VnExpress/ Pham Chieu |
Because the advertising supervisor for a stone import-export firm in Cau Giay District, Hong Hanh, 35 years outdated, residing in Lengthy Bien District, has to attend many vital conferences. However loads 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.
Particularly, visitors congestion within the final months of the 12 months on most important roads in lots of central districts have prompted 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 massive 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 12 months is like going to struggle as a result of you need 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Congestion all through the town make shipper Huu Nghia, 45 years outdated, afraid to exit.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 strategy to keep away from it.
“I all the time attempt to wriggle out of the group of autos, however I am all the time half-hour to an hour late delivering items to prospects. To not point out on wet days, being a couple of 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 Avenue, Dong Da District, captured at 2:00 p.m., Jan. 25, 2024. Photograph by VnExpress/Quynh Nguyen |
Visitors jams no matter time of day throughout the Tet vacation are a priority for many individuals within the capital. Each social media put up about this example attracts 1000’s 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 Building Engineering Program at Vietnam Japan College (Hanoi), mentioned the state of affairs is just not new, and that visitors issues on the finish of the 12 months come from 5 most important causes.
One is the elevated must journey to buy and provides presents to individuals in and outdoors of the town.
Second, there are a lot of 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 12 months, many routes are in the course of upkeep – additional lowering the quantity of drivable area on roads. Lastly, many drivers don’t obey visitors legal guidelines, and sometimes drive on sidewalks, encroaching on public transport lanes, and disobeying visitors controller’s directions.
As well as, visitors skilled 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 the moment 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%.
In line with Director of the Hanoi Division of Transport Nguyen Phi Thuong, the variety of private autos has elevated by 4-5% lately, 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 meant design by 6-8 instances. For instance, Le Van Luong – To Huu Avenue’s visitors density is 1.1-1.7 instances its design; Chuong Duong Bridge is 8 instances; Nguyen Trai Avenue, 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 had been current factors from 2022.
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Disarrayed visitors congestion on the intersection of Nguyen Khang Avenue and Yen Hoa Bridge, Cau Giay District, within the afternoon of Jan. 24, 2024. Photograph by VnExpress/Quynh Nguyen |
Tired of crawling inch by inch via visitors, Hong Hanh persuaded her husband – who owns their home in central Hanoi’s Ha Dong District, to purchase a smaller house 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 college. There are additionally loads of shortcuts close by, permitting us to briefly 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 thought of delaying his supply deadline till after 7 pm for non-urgent orders, which was authorised by his retailer homeowners. For “categorical” packages, the 45-year-old man will analysis shortcuts and keep away from most important roads.
“Delivering items within the night will likely 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 gasoline,” Nghia mentioned.
To keep away from inflicting inconvenience and fatigue to drivers, visitors skilled Nguyen Xuan Thuy suggests some options comparable to upgrading infrastructure and making roads wider. Particularly, public transportation should meet timing necessities and may arrive on time, alongside good service to stimulate extra calls for. We should always not construct too many house buildings within the metropolis heart, and we must always spend money on methods to open up extra satellite tv for pc cities to skinny out inhabitants density.
Dr. Phan Le Binh, then again, identified that not all people can use public transportation because of geographical location, and metropolis routes are additionally exhausting to vary in a brief period of time. Due to this fact, he mentioned, the easiest way to reduce congestion throughout Tet is for the authorities to divert visitors and resolve potential jams. Prepare parking spots in areas with a excessive variety of outlets promoting Tet gadgets to keep away from conditions the place autos are parked freely on the highway, the physician prompt.
“However an important factor is to lift 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.
Bored with having to journey by way of at the least 5 critical visitors jams on daily basis, Phuong determined to lease a room close to her office earlier than the Lunar New Yr. Her new abode is costlier, 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. Daily when she comes residence from work, she nonetheless has time to eat and relaxation.