More, wider roads to ease traffic around HCMC airport The Ministry of Defence has agreed to hand over land to HCM City authorities for construction of a flyover near Tan Son Nhat International Airport to prevent the constant traffic jams that occur there.   Traffic jams routinely plague the road leading to Tan Son Nhat Airport. -VNS File Photo Other works planned to ease the traffic problems there include creating other entrances to the airport, build more roads leading to the airport in addition to the existing Truong Son Street, build elevated roads, a monorail, and a metro route to the airport. Though two flyovers have been built on Truong Son Street (leading to Tan Son Nhat Airport) and the road connecting Tan Son Nhat and Binh Loi, the outer beltway and the first stage of the Nguyen Kiem – Nguyen Thai Son Roundabout project have been opened to traffic, Truong Son remains severely congested. The situation has not improved with the widening of Hoang Minh Gíam Street in Phu Nhuan District l last month. Transportation experts have said that Truong Son Street, the only way to reach Tan Son Nhat, is congested because it has to carry 30 million passengers a year besides a large number of local residents. To mitigate the problem, the city Department of Transport has planned several works, including creating another entrance to the airport. They include upgrades to and widening of Hoang Hoa Tham Street and building a road connecting Tran Quoc Hoan and Truong Chinh streets running parallel to Cong Hoa Street. According to the transport department’s Urban Transportation Management Unit No 1, the 783.5m long, 23m wide Hoang Hoa Tham Street will be made a four-lane road at a cost of VND254 billion (US$11.3 million). A new entrance to the airport will be built on this road to take some of the traffic off Truong Son Street. A feasibility study has been done for the construction of the road parallel to Cong Hoa Street, but the city authorities are waiting for land to be transferred by the military management unit. Awaiting foreign consultancy The defence ministry has agreed to transfer 1,800sq.m of land used by the Military Hospital 175 to the city for construction of a steel flyover at the Nguyen Thai Son – Nguyen Kiem intersection. Meanwhile, construction of the civilian-military Terminal T3 on 286 Hoang Hoa Tham Street by Ngoi Sao Viet Joint Stock Company has been approved. But it must wait until the airport expansion plan is completed by a foreign consulting company, the company said. According to a transport department spokesman, the department proposed to use 7,400sq.m of land on Truong Chinh Street to widen it. The land has been obtained by removing 50 shops and three petrol stations. Need to fix airport A report on the expansion of the airport by the Ministry of Transport says demand for air transport in the Southern key economic zone is rising, accounting for 46 per cent of the total number of passengers in the country. Last year, 32.5 million passengers flew through Tan Son Nhat Airport against a designed capacity of its two terminals of 28 million. According to the transport ministry, the airport handles 40 per cent of all domestic and international flights to and from Viet Nam, and so delays and cancellations of flights would affect flight schedules and quality, and cause losses to carriers and risks to aviation safety. The airport is expected to handle 38– 40 million passengers next year, rising to 43-45 million in 2020. Plans are under way to build Long Thanh Airport in Dong Nai Province to ease the burden on Tan Son Nhat. -VNS