HCMC to restrict light trucks in daytime to ease congestion

HCMC to restrict light trucks in daytime to ease congestion

HCMC to restrict light trucks in daytime to ease congestion

Le Anh

The heavy presence of light trucks on Truong Son Street near the Tan Son Nhat International Airport is partly to blame for traffic congestion in the airport area – PHOTO: LE ANH

HCMC – The HCMC Department of Transport will restrict light trucks travelling on inner-city roads in the daytime in an effort to ease worsening traffic congestion.

At a first-half review conference on traffic safety in HCMC last Friday, the HCMC Traffic Safety Board said congestion had worsened on many streets at rush hours, especially those leading to the city, passing through the city center and leading to key ports.

Congestion is a usual sight on Dong Van Cong Street in District 2 due to a huge number of trucks traveling to and out from Cat Lai Port.

Huynh Trung Phong, head of the HCMC Police Department’s Road and Railway Traffic Police Division, said large numbers of light trucks and increasingly huge armies of Uber and Grab taxis are to blame for severe congestion on many roads at peak hours.

Congestion is also caused by less-than-five-ton trucks at noon when they are allowed to transport goods to restaurants, hotels and small manufacturing enterprises, said Bui Xuan Cuong, director of the city’s Department of Transport.

In 37 areas highly prone to traffic congestion last year, 25 have seen some positive improvement, and 10 have still faced traffic congestion.

Phong said a huge number of newly registered vehicles is another reason for rising traffic congestion in the city as traffic infrastructure has been upgraded and developed at a pace far slower than vehicle registration growth.

The city has 30,000 vehicles newly registered a month, 15% of them cars. The number of newly registered trucks has also surged over the past three years.

Before 2013, the city had only 3,000 trucks registered a year but the number doubled annually until 2015. From 2014 to July 2017, nearly 50,000 trucks were registered, accounting for 23.8% of the total in the city.

At the meeting, HCMC chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong assigned the Department of Transport to coordinate with relevant departments and agencies to restrict operating hours of light trucks in the daytime on the main roads, especially those having heavy traffic.

HCMC to restrict light trucks in daytime to ease congestion Related image(s)