The southern metropolis of HCM City currently has more than 50 weak bridges. Many are very old and need to be repaired or replaced.

The Muong Chuoi Bridge after being hit by a 30,000 tonne ship over one month ago.

Two months needed to repair Thi Nghe Bridge hit by barge

Hole found in HCMC’s main bridge

In the past several months, several accidents surrounding old and weak bridges in the city, are causing concerns among local people about the safety of these works.

On November 17, Thi Nghe Bridge, which connects Binh Thanh and District 1 in the city’s hub was damaged after being hit by an 800-tonne barge. The incident caused traffic jams in various streets in the city. While HCM City’s road network is overloaded, each small bridge or road plays a very important role.

The Saigon Bridge with a big hole in the middle.

Previously, An Nghia Bridge in Can Gio district was hit by a sand barge and Muong Chuoi Bridge was damaged by a 30,000 tonne ship. While Thi Nghe has just been inspected, Muong Chuoi and An Nghia bridges are not repaired yet although the incidents occurred over one month ago.

Recently, the Saigon Bridge was found to have a big hole at the middle. Though the hole was filled immediately, experts say the bridge needs to be overhauled to ensure safety.

The Thi Nghe Bridge hit by a 8000 tonne barge on November 17

While statistics show that HCM City has over 50 weak bridges that need to be repaired, the city is still at the planning stage. And while, the repair of 16 bridges have been approved the remaining are still untouched.

To prevent incidents for bridges caused by collisions between vehicles and bridge, the HCM City Department of Transport will build steel pillars around the supports of significant bridges.

Thai Phuong