The upgrade is now progressing well on a total of 15 traffic intersections across Da Nang, whilst the refurbishment of many single-lane roundabouts with large radiuses will be implemented in the coming time.

The upgrade underway at the existing roundabout at the western end of the Tien Son Bridge

The intention is to ensure the safety of road users, reduce the number of traffic accidents, ease traffic congestion, and match with the city’s traffic network.

In reality, there are many single-lane roundabouts with large radiuses along Yet Kieu, Ngo Quyen, Ngu Hanh Son, Cach Mang Thang Tam, and other streets which have seen heavy traffic, including a large number of trailers, trucks and passenger coaches.

Roundabouts are a type of circular intersection control generally associated with a favorable influence on traffic safety. Drivers in roundabouts are all meant to be going in the same direction, dramatically reducing the chance of the most deadly driving scenario, a head-on collision.

Actually, apart from tailbacks which happen unless the traffic on each approach road is equal, most drivers are not comfortable when approaching a roundabout because they have a very difficult time trying to figure out who actually has the right of way.

Still worse, recent years have seen many serious accidents at these roundabouts. Of note, amongst dominant crash types are rear-end crashes, collisions with vulnerable road users, entering-circulating crashes, and single-vehicle collisions with the central island.

The intersection of the eastern approach road to the Tien Son Bridge, Le Van Hien and Ho Xuan Huong was once notorious for deadly traffic accidents, but now the number of crashes has considerably decreased thanks to the removal of the roundabout, and the creation of different lanes for trucks and motorcycles instead.

Meanwhile, the upgrade is also getting underway at the existing roundabout at the western end of the Tien Son Bridge, with a focus on narrowing the central divide along the approach road to the bridge, creating a lane for right-turns exclusively by trucks and container vehicles, and repairing and widening all road surfaces.

Special attention is also being paid to installing 3-phase traffic lights to control the traffic flows, new lighting systems, reflective warning and painted lines in accordance with the national technical regulations.

Mr Nguyen Dang Huy, the Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Transport, revealed his unit is about to carry out the upgrade of some single-lane roundabouts with large radiuses through which the soon-to-be-used Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) vehicles run. 

In the related news, in the coming time, over 16-seater passenger coaches will be banned from parking along a section of Ngo Quyen, opposite the Muong Thanh hotel, between 5.00pm and 11.00pm daily.

Meanwhile, all types of vehicles will be not allowed to park along about 60m-long section of Hoang Dieu, stretching a residential area near the Moi Market to its intersection with Duy Tan to ease traffic gridlock during rush hours.