Major bridge needs urgent solutions to avoid collapse

Dong Nai Bridge, one of the key bridges on the axis road linking HCMC with some provinces in the southern focal economic zone, requires urgent solutions, otherwise it may collapse any time, transport experts said.

A team of senior experts from the Transport Ministry last week made a fact finding trip to Dong Nai Province for technical inspection on the 43-year-old Dong Nai Bridge.

Transport inspectors have concluded that the bridge spanning the Dong Nai River would remain safe if transport via this important work is not over loading caused by the constant snarl-up on the bridge.

Pham Hien, deputy general director of the Road Transport Authority 7 as the bridge management unit, told the Daily last Saturday that the inspection team had said the bridge was not threaten as long as traffic circulation was well regulated.

However given the current situation of loading, the bridge is in danger, according to transport experts.

These experts proposed to build a new bridge as well as upgrade the current bridge to ease the situation. In the short term, transport experts proposed either building a pontoon bridge or operating a ferry to help reduce the traffic flow via the bridge.

However, Nguyen Ngoc Long, head of the Transport Construction Quality Surveying and Management Administration, said building a pontoon bridge was not a feasible plan.

Therefore, inspectors asked for better coordination between Road Transport Authority 7 and transport authorities of HCMC, Binh Duong and Dong Nai in solving the gridlock on the bridge as well as preventing overloaded trucks to circulate on the bridge.

The inspection was carried out after local officials raised an alarm by the end of July saying that the bridge, which connects HCMC, Binh Duong and Dong Nai, could collapse at any moment.

Upon the alarm, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has asked Transport Minister Ho Nghia Dung to look into the situation of the bridge and propose solutions as soon as possible.

The transport minister then has named the State-owned Construction General 1 under the Ministry of Construction to make the feasibility study for a new bridge.

(Source: SGT)