Amid fervent hopes that it will draw traffic away from Hanoi’s heavily used downtown streets, the Vinh Tuy Bridge opened on September 25.

Before cutting the ribbon, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung called the new Red River span a landmark for the Vietnamese construction sector because it is the first bridge across the river entirely built by Vietnamese companies.

Including its approaches, the Vinh Tuy Bridge is over 5.8 kilometers long and, at 38 meters wide, the widest in Vietnam. Though work will not be complete on its intersection with National Route 5 (the Hanoi-Haiphong highway) until next June, an alternative connection has been devised (click here for map) so that the bridge might be put into earlier service.

PM Nguyen Tan Dung and officials cut the ribbon to open the bridge on September 25 morning.

The Vinh Tuy Bridge connects Minh Khai Road south of Hanoi’s city center and National Highway 5 in Gia Lam district. The bridge is designed serve an estimated 34,000 vehicles per day now, rising to 72,000 vehicles a day by 2020. This work is designed and built by Vietnamese contractors. The chief investor of the 3.6 trillion dong project was the Ta Ngan project management unit, under the direction of the Hanoi People’s Committee.

Construction of the bridge began in February 2005. Vinh Tuy Bridge is expected to ease pressing issues of transport and communication in the capital and in particular reduce the traffic flow on the center-city Chuong Duong Bridge.

This is the second big bridge opening this month. On September 9, the Phu My Bridge across the Saigon River in Ho Chi Minh City was opened to traffic.

Chi Hieu