Tran Hoang Na bridge over Can Tho river closed
On August 26, the Tran Hoang Na bridge across the Can Tho River, nearly 600m long, with an investment capital of nearly 800 billion VND, was closed after nearly 3 years of construction.
At 11:00 a.m. on August 26, the last steel longitudinal beam, 53 meters long and weighing 150 tons, was transported by the construction unit using two 150-200 ton cranes and a 2,000-ton barge to be installed on the middle span of Tran Hoang Na bridge facing upstream, connecting the two banks of the Can Tho River in Ninh Kieu district and Cai Rang district.
On September 15-16, the contractor continued to construct and close the X-shaped steel arch section, 51 m long, weighing more than 300 tons in the middle of the bridge. After adjusting and fixing, on September 19-20, the contractor will install the remaining longitudinal beam section of the same size and weight of the Tran Hoang Na bridge on the downstream side.
According to the ODA Project Management Board of Can Tho City - the investor of the Tran Hoang Na Bridge construction project, up to now, the project has completed over 88% of the volume. The four-span reinforced concrete approach bridge on both banks of Ninh Kieu and Cai Rang, the median strip, the wheel guard, the guardrail and the box retaining wall have been completed. The main steel bridge section has been brought to the construction site 100%, and the main bridge deck has been cast with 209 out of 372 steel panels.
Tran Hoang Na Bridge is designed as an arch bridge with 3 spans of steel structure and prestressed reinforced concrete. The total length of the bridge is 820m; of which, the main bridge is nearly 600m long, the middle span is 150m long, and the two side spans have the same length of 49m. The steel used to build the 3 main spans of the bridge was imported from Korea, with a volume of more than 4,000 tons. This is a level I traffic project, with a scale of 4 lanes, 23m wide, and a design speed of 60km/h.
The project has a total investment of more than 791 billion VND from official development assistance (ODA) capital, started in September 2020, and was initially expected to be completed in July 2022, but was behind schedule and extended to the end of 2023.
Up to now, Can Tho City has had 3 bridges across the Can Tho River connecting Ninh Kieu and Cai Rang districts to National Highway 1A, including Quang Trung Bridge (two units), Hung Loi Bridge and Cai Rang Bridge. When Tran Hoang Na Bridge is completed, it will contribute to effectively solving the problem of urban traffic connection between National Highway 1A and the central routes of Can Tho City, reducing the traffic volume through the main routes of the city, contributing to reducing traffic congestion during rush hours.
To serve the closing of Tran Hoang Na bridge, the Inland Waterways Sub-Department of Region III (Vietnam Inland Waterways Administration) has issued a notice on restricting waterway traffic on Can Tho rivers and canals.
Accordingly, waterway traffic on Can Tho River through Tran Hoang Bridge will be closed in three periods. The first period is from August 26 to 27, the second period is from September 15 to 16, and the third period is from September 19 to 20. The closure time is from 7am to 11am in the morning and from 1pm to 5pm in the afternoon.
According to the Inland Waterways Sub-Department of Region III, in the construction area of Tran Hoang Na Bridge, there is an inland waterway signaling system and a force to regulate and control waterway traffic. Vehicles traveling to this area must strictly follow the instructions of the inland waterway signaling system and the force to ensure waterway traffic safety.