Hai Van 2 road tunnel opened for operation from January 2021, contributing to solving the overload in Hai Van 1 tunnel. Vehicles move in two directions north – south through the tunnel smoothly, meeting the travel needs of vehicles when traveling in one direction in each tunnel, contributing to ensuring traffic order and safety.

Cars pass through the Hai Van 2 tunnel. Photo: THANH LAN

Especially, since putting into operation up to now, there have been no accidents and explosions in the tunnel. Mr. Ngo Truong Nam, General Director of Deo Ca Investment Joint Stock Company, said that the volume of vehicles participating in the circulation through the Hai Van 2 tunnel in recent years tended to increase. From February 1st to March 22nd , there were 247,444 vehicles passing through Hai Van 2 tunnel, an average of 5,000 vehicles per day passing through the tunnel. According to actual records, since Hai Van 2 tunnel opened for operation, the economic efficiency has been quite noticeable. Moreover, It also helped to reduce traffic pressure on the entire route including the path to the tunnel. Traffic jams due to slow-moving vehicles no longer existed, and the time for vehicles to pass through the tunnel was reduced by more than 50% compared to before. The situation of congestion lasted for a long time, that made the forces separate the channels to regulate traffic as before when the two-way traffic in a tunnel, was no longer available.

Mr. Phan Tan Thanh (living in Son Tra district), a truck driver transporting seafood, said that from the day Hai Van 2 tunnel came into operation, he no longer worried that the goods would be damaged every time he transported goods to Thua Thien Hue. That’s thanks to the shortened travel time through the tunnel to 6 minutes, compared to 15 minutes as before. At the same time, the risk of traffic accidents was minimized, creating smooth traffic..

With the same opinion, long-distance container driver Tran Hai, (1970, from Mo Duc district, Quang Ngai province) expressed his joy because from now on, the tunnel will not be closed for 3-4 hours for construction, that has created conditions for vehicles to pass through the tunnel 24/24 hours compared to before. The operation management unit proactively ensured traffic on each tunnel to perform cleaning and maintenance work for equipment and tunnel structures located on the lane.

In the past, in order to go through Hai Van 1 tunnel, especially before, during and after holidays, Tet or weekends, vehicle owners were most worried about traffic jams, but now the circulation has been less time consuming, It helps to reduce fuel consumption.

In addition, many residents said that they felt safer when traveling in a clean and beautiful new tunnel with many modern equipment. Mr. Ho Van Quyen (40 years old, from Quang Nam) driving a tractor through the Hai Van 2 tunnel acknowledged that there was a new tunnel, so the move was shortened. Currently, the tunnel is wide with 2 lanes, it only takes about 10 minutes for the car to pass through the tunnel.

Since Hai Van 2 tunnel came into operation, It has been contributing to ensuring national security and defense of the central economic key region, helping to connect synchronously, creating development momentum for the surrounding areas, especially the Central Highlands. Putting Hai Van 2 tunnel into operation also made the transportation of people and motorbikes through the tunnel more convenient and efficient. The number of people riding motorbikes using the transit service through the tunnel has increased, reducing the risk of traffic accidents when they have to operate their motorbikes through the pass.

However, according to Deo Ca Investment Joint Stock Company, due to the open road, over the past time, the number of vehicles violating the speed limit (70km/h) when going through the tunnel has increased, about 13,234 vehicles have been counted. Thus, the operation management unit has propagated and disseminated information on the electronic sign system, 102.7Mhz FM wave, loudspeaker system… about the regulations when participating in traffic through the tunnel, especially was the maximum speed regulation of 70 km/h in the tunnel, warning of speed control of the whole route. At the same time, they also coordinated with the Traffic Police Department of Thua Thien Hue Provincial Police to handle cases of speeding vehicles.

Focus on solving problems

Faced with financial problems, over the past time, on the basis of the proposal of the Ministry of Transport (MOT), The Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) to assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice to consider allocating 1,180 billion VND of State capital for the project. The agencies agreed to report to the Prime Minister to allocate the above capital for the project in the medium-term public investment plan for the period 2021-2025. Thus, the resolution of financial problems of the project has been given a specific plan and roadmap by State agencies. Therefore, the operation of Hai Van 2 tunnel has been continuously smooth so far.

BY THANH LAN

Souce: Báo Đà Nẵng