Saigon River tunnel under repair

Work to repair the tunnel surface has been going on for two weeks and is scheduled to complete at the end of December.

The repair is carried out from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. Normally only cars are allowed to use the tunnel during those hours, and the traffic flow is small, thus the work has not caused significant impact to the traffic, said Doan Van Tan, director of HCMC Urban Traffic Management Center.

However, Tan said, some parts of unfinished work were covered by iron sheets during the day, forcing vehicles to slow down and cause congestion during rush hours.

The contractor had said earlier that the repair would take until January 9, but later said it would speed up work to finish it by the New Year.

The Saigon River tunnel runs 1.49 km under the Saigon River and is an important part of HCMC’s east-west traffic route. It was opened in November 2011 with three lanes each for cars and motorbikes, allowing maximum speed of 60 kph. The tunnel has been serving around 55,000 cars and 300,000 motorbikes every day.