The Binh Trieu 1 Bridge on HCM City’s eastern gateway was closed at 7pm December 9 after a girder move.

A worker is repairing the bridge.

“This is a dangerous incident. If it had not been discovered early, I don’t know what would have happened,” said Nguyen Mai Bao Tram, manager of the HCM City Technical Infrastructure Investment JS Company, which repaired the bridge.

All vehicles, which ran from Thu Duc district to the city’s centre, had to stop, causing traffic jams until midnight.

Experts say the incident happened because the bridge was overloaded. Last night motorbikes were permitted to travel across the bridge while cars had to use the Binh Trieu 2 Bridge.

Motorbikes were allowed to cross the bridge at 9pm, December 9.

Binh Trieu 1 is a one-way bridge, which has worked for nearly 50 years on the major road from HCM City to Binh Duong. It serves a large number of vehicles everyday and has been downgraded. The Road Transport Agency recently warned the bridge could collapse. Repairs began in September 2009 and are scheduled to last for 15 months.

The Binh Trieu 2 Bridge was built in 1998 to serve traffic of the contrary direction with the Binh Trieu 1 Bridge.

Traffic has resumed on the bridge since 6am this morning, December 10.

PV