Vietnam’s longest highway opens to traffic

The Ministry of Transport and the Hanoi People’s Committee held a ceremony to open Thang Long Boulevard to traffic on October 3.

Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, Nguyen The Thao, affirmed that the boulevard plays an important role in deciding the size and nature of the Hoa Lac satellite urban area and other satellite urban areas and directly affects district and town development strategies in western Hanoi. The road is considered the basis for developing Lang-Hoa Lac High-tech Park and it will help expand the capital to the west and south-west to create a modern and civilised city.

At the ceremony, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung congratulated Hanoi’s Party and people on this new and modern transport project. Thang Long Boulevard was completed to coincide with Hanoi’s 1,000^th anniversary, demonstrating the capital’s continuous development.

PM Dung emphasised that Hanoi should invest further in transport management systems and mobilise all resources to create more transport projects to meet the increasing demands of the people and promote rapid and sustainable development in the capital.

Thang Long Boulevard runs 30km, from the Pham Hung-Khuat Duy Tien- Tran Duy Hung roundabout through Tu Liem, Hoai Duc, Quoc Oai and Thach That districts to National Highway 21A (km 31+ 64, the beginning of the Ho Chi Minh Road). It includes two highways with six lanes, two other roads with two lanes, 130 bridges and 3 tunnels.

The project started in March 2005 at a cost of VND7,527 billion. This is the first Vietnamese urban highway built using domestic capital and local engineers and contractors.

At the end of the ceremony, PM Dung, Mr Thao and other ministerial leaders cut a ribbon to open the boulevard to traffic.