Northern Lao Cai Province, home to Sa Pa City, opened Provincial Road No.155 to traffic on Sep. 22 after five years of construction.

Implemented under the build-operate-transfer format, the new road runs 13.8 km, taking in Mong Sen viaduct, which is currently the tallest in Vietnam.

Thanks to the new road, which costs VND1.5 trillion (US$62 million) and comprises six bridges, including Mong Sen, drivers can cut short a 30-km trip from Lao Cai Town, the capital of the namesake province, to Sa Pa by 7 km.

Before the road was completed, vehicles used National Highway 4D, which has many slopes that frequently suffered from landslides.

Tuyen Quang – Phu Tho Expressway that connects the two northern provinces of Tuyen Quang and Phu Tho will be open to traffic on Dec. 24.

Built at the cost of VND3.7 trillion (US$152 million) from the state fund, the expressway runs 40 km long for vehicles to move at 80 kph in two lanes in each direction.

It is linked with Noi Bai – Lao Cai Expressway and is expected to cut the traveling time from Tuyen Quang to Hanoi by one hour to 1.5 hours.

Mai Son – National Highway 45 Expressway costing more than VND12.1 trillion of the state budget was put into use on April 30 after work started in September 2020.

Having a total length of 63.37 km, the project is part of the North-South Expressway. It connects Yen Mo District of Ninh Binh Province in the north with Nong Cong District in the north-central Thanh Hoa Province.

For its first phase, the expressway has four lanes spreading 17 m wide for vehicles to move at the maximum speed of 80 kph. It currently has no rest stops or emergency stopping lanes. If the vehicle encounters a problem, there are "bays" to repair the damage, each "bay" is 4-5 km apart. The second phase will enlarge the road to 32.25 m.

Thanks to the new route, the travel time from Hanoi to Thanh Hoa has been shortened to two hours instead of three hours as before.

The highlight of the entire route is the two tunnels across Tam Diep and Thung Thi mountains.

National Highway 45 - Nghi Son Expressway stretching 43 km long entered service on Oct. 18.

Costing VND12.1 trillion (US$500 million), it is also a part of the North-South Expressway, it links with Mai Son – National Highway 45 Expressway in Nong Cong District of Thanh Hoa Province.

In the first phase, the expressway has four lanes spreading 17 m wide for vehicles to move at 80 kph.

It currently has no emergency lane but rest stops. Once fully completed, it will have six lanes spanning 32 m wide for vehicles to move at the maximum speed of 100-120 km/h.

The highlight of the project is the bridge over Yen My Lake which is nearly one kilometer long, making it the longest bridge over the lake on the North-South Expressway to date.

Nghi Son - Dien Chau Expressway connects with National Highway 45 - Nghi Son Expressway in Nghi Son Town of Thanh Hoa Province and runs 50 km long to Dien Chau District of Nghe An Province.

Costing VND7.3 trillion (US$300 million) of the state budget, the expressway was opened on Sept. 1.

It also measures 17 m wide with four lanes, has a design speed of 80 km/h, no emergency stopping lanes but exit stops in the first phase. The second phase will enlarge it to six lanes across 32 m wide providing a design speed of 100-120 km/h.

The expressway has a tunnel through a mountain, the Truong Vinh tunnel, which runs 450 m long with six lanes cutting through Mong Ga Mountain at the border of Thanh Hoa - Nghe An provinces.

After being put into use, the Nghi Son - Dien Chau and National Highway 45 - Nghi Son expressways have cut the time from Thanh Hoa to Nghe An by half to 1.5 hours, compared to using National Highway 1.

Thanks to them, traveling from Hanoi to Dien Chau District of Nghe An now takes only 3.5 hours instead of about five hours as before.

Terminal 2 of Phu Bai International Airport near Hue City started operation on June 17.

Designed to look like the famous Hue Citadel, the former imperial capital of Vietnam, the new terminal is the second of Phu Bai airport, which lies in Xuan Thuy Town of Thua Thien-Hue Province, 15 km from Hue.

Construction of Terminal 2 spanning 22,380 square meters began in 2019 at a total cost of nearly VND2.3 trillion (US$97.75 million), funded by the state-run Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV).

Designed to serve 5 million passengers each year, the terminal helped Phu Bai to serve the travel needs of local people, attract tourists and investors, and create new driving force to promote economic growth of Thua Thien Hue Province as well as the central region.

Once the new terminal is put into use, Phu Bai's current terminal, which can serve 1.5 million passengers per year, is used for cargo only.

Dau Giay – Phan Thiet Expressway was opened to traffic on April 29.

Costing VND12.5 trillion (US$535 million) of the state budget, the expressway, linked with the Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thanh – Dau Giay Expressway, which runs from HCMC to Dong Nai Province, was inaugurated in September 2020.

With the 99-km-long expressway put into service, it will take around two hours to travel by car from HCMC to Binh Thuan's Phan Thiet, which is known for its beaches and sand dunes, compared to around five hours as before.

The 49-km Nha Trang – Cam Lam Expressway in the central region was opened to traffic on May 19 as part of the North-South Expressway.

It runs 49 km between Cam Ranh and Dien Khanh District's Dien Tho Commune, which lies just under 25 km from the beach city of Nha Trang.

Funded by Son Hai Co., Ltd., the project was established under the build-operate-transfer format at the cost of VND7.6 trillion ($312.2 million).

It currently has four lanes, allowing cars to run at a maximum speed of 80 km/h.

The expressway comprises 15 bridges, 10 overpasses and a tunnel through a mountain.

Vinh Hao – Phan Thiet Expressway running more than 100 km through Binh Thuan Province entered service on May 19 and is linked with Phan Thiet – Dau Giay Expressway.

Costing VND10.853 trillion ($445.8 million) of the state budget, it now has four lanes spanning 17 m wide and will be expanded later.

There will be five expressways between HCMC and Nha Trang: HCMC – Long Thanh – Dau Giay, Dau Giay – Phan Thiet, Vinh Hao – Phan Thiet, Cam Lam – Vinh Hoa, and Nha Trang – Cam Lam.

Once they are all put into use, the time to travel from HCMC to Nha Trang by road is expected to be shortened significantly from the current seven hours.

At the moment, only Cam Lam – Vinh Hao, which is more than 78 km long, is still under construction.

My Thuan 2 Bridge linking Trung Luong – My Thuan Expressway and My Thuan – Can Tho Expressway to complete the route from Ho Chi Minh City to the Mekong Delta city Can Tho will be open on Dec. 24.

Drawing VND5 trillion ($216 million) from the state budget, the bridge spans 6.61 km with six lanes allowing maximum speeds of 80 km/h, and is 350 meters upstream from the My Thuan Bridge on the Tien River, one of two main Mekong branches in Vietnam.

The bridge's surface is 28-meter wide, and it is supported by two 125.5-m high towers, with 128 cable units.

Playing an important role of the North-South Expressway, it is expected to relieve the traffic pressure that the My Thuan Bridge is currently bearing, especially on public holidays.

Linking with My Thuan 2 Bridge, My Thuan – Can Tho Expressway runs 23 km through two Mekong Delta provinces of Vinh Long and Dong Thap.

Measuring 17 m wide to have four lanes allowing speeds up to 88 km/h, the expressway costs VND4.8 trillion ($197.4 million) of the state budget and will be opened to traffic on the same day with the bridge, on Dec. 24.

Once entering service together, the expressway and the bridge will take passengers only two hours to travel from Ho Chi Minh City to Can Tho City, the Mekong Delta’s capital, compared to the current four-hour trip.