On April 20, 2022, in Tien Giang province, Trung Luong - My Thuan BOT Joint Stock Company coordinated with the Traffic Police Department, Tien Giang Provincial Police and Cai Lay District Police to organize a fire prevention and rescue drill at Trung Luong - My Thuan expressway.
Accordingly, the drill is aimed at improving the skills of handling traffic incidents for the staff of the Management Unit in accordance with the procedures and regulations, at the same time, strengthen the coordination between the forces; proactively handle and well handle arising situations that may occur, to ensure smooth traffic safety on the Trung Luong - My Thuan expressway.
Firefighters conduct fire drills
In a hypothetical situation, around 8:30 a.m. on April 20, 2022, the Monitoring Center received information that a 3-legged truck had a tire blown and overturned blocking the road, fuel was spilled on the road surface and was at risk of fire and explosion, the driver and the passenger were slightly injured. The incident caused a complete traffic jam.
Upon receiving the news, the management board immediately dispatched forces to warn about the incident, put the information on the VMS boards, set up speed limit signs, and at the same time coordinate with the Traffic Control Patrol to open the median and regulate lanes for drivers to turn around or turn to National Road 1. Mobilize the firefighting vehicles and rescue forces of the enterprise to approach the incident scene.
The company's management board also coordinated with the Patrol and Control Team to directly command the operation and rescue forces at the scene, take the injured to the emergency, and clear the scene. After 30 minutes, the incident was handled, the functional forces lifted the blockade, and traffic returned to normal. The Management Enterprise fixes minor damage and has a plan to repair major damage at the accident site.
At the end of the rehearsal, the participants exchanged experiences at the scene. The traffic police of Tien Giang province has commented and shared frankly about the incident handling and rescue plan of the operation management enterprise, adjusting the rescue plan to in order to limit loss of life and property when an accident occurs on the expressway.
Representatives of the Traffic Police Department give suggestions and share experiences in rescue and incident handling
Although not officially put into operation yet, Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway was temporary opened for traffic on the occasion of the last Lunar New Year from January 25, 2022 to February 10. 2022, in order to reduce the load on the currently overloaded National Road 1A.
During this time, Trung Luong - My Thuan Expressway served nearly 1 million vehicles (average 58,300 vehicles/day and night). The operation management force promptly rescued 154 cases of broken vehicles; 297 cases of tire explosion; 102 vehicles running out of fuel; 8 cases of problems related to driver and passenger health (taken to medical stations); blocking 825 motorbikes from getting on the expressway.... The total number of calls to via hotline 1900.868.677 was 1,888 calls.
After the operation phase, the project does not have any major technical problems, however, the biggest challenge is that the road has 45/51km go through soft ground. Beside, the the impact of lowering of the groundwater level also causing uneven settlement of the road. In addition, the uncontrolled of overload vehicles also poses a challenge to ensure the longevity of the work and limit damage to the road surface after it is put into use.
BY NGUYEN NGA
