The upgrade of National Road 14E, a 1,848-billion-dong project, will miss its October contract deadline even though more than 95% of the work is done, Tuổi Trẻ reported on October 27. The paper said the deadline was four days away. Quế Hải Trung, director of the project management board, put the construction volume at over 95%.

The road runs more than 70 kilometres through Thăng Bình, Hiệp Đức and Phước Sơn, linking National Road 1 with mountain communes and the Central Highlands. It ends at Km 89+700, where it meets the Hồ Chí Minh road in Phước Hiệp commune.

The roadbed is nine metres wide with a seven-metre carriageway. The Ministry of Transport, now the Ministry of Construction, approved the project in 2022.

Completion was first planned for 2025 and was pushed to October 2026 because of land clearance, weather and other construction problems. Land clearance is still incomplete for two households, in Thăng Bình and Hiệp Đức communes.

The railway overpass in Thăng Bình was asphalted on October 26. Light vehicles used it from that evening and all vehicles from the morning of October 27.

Construction supervisor Trần Khắc Khánh said the opening removes one of the route's main bottlenecks. Two residents of Quý Thạnh 1 hamlet told the paper they were glad to see the road paved after about three years of dust.

Several parts remain unfinished. The bypass sections in Việt An commune, at the Hiệp Đức administrative centre and near Bà Huỳnh bridge in Phước Trà commune are not complete, and the Hiệp Đức bypass cannot be paved because of one household. Đắk Mi 1 bridge in Phước Hiệp is still under construction, and drainage, road markings and signs are unfinished.

Trung said vehicles can travel the route fairly easily despite the gaps. The paper noted that many vehicles are using urban roads instead of the Hiệp Đức bypass for now.

Sources

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