Hai Van Tunnel
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The Hai Van Tunnel, the longest tunnel in Southeast Asia at 6.28km, lies on highway 1 between the two cities of Danang and Huế in central Vietnam.
[edit] History
The Hai Van Pass has long been recognised as a major bottleneck. The concept of a tunnel to bypass the long route over the top had long been sought.
[edit] Construction
Construction began in April 2001 as a joint venture between Nippon Koei Company Limited Japan and Louis Berger International Inc., USA with the Vietnamese Transport Engineering Design Corporation (TEDI) providing consultation on the project. The project's major constructors were a Vietnam-Japan joint venture, Hazama-Cienco 6, and a joint venture between Korea's Dong Ah construction company and Vietnam's Song Da Construction Corporation.
The tunnel was officially opened in June 2005.
The main tunnel is 11.9 meters wide. A second tunnel running alongside the main tunnel is currently used for maintenance and emergencies but it is planned to expand this at a later date as traffic increases. It is connected to the main tunnel by 15 cross-tunnels. The tunnels have lighting, fire alarms, communication, water supply and treatment, ventilation fans, and radio broadcast systems.
[edit] Operation
Currently the single tunnel has one lane of traffic in each direction. As no overtaking is possible this can result in minor delays if you are stuck behind slow moving traffic. A toll of VND25,000 is payable for cars/mini buses.
Motorcycles, cycles and pedestrians are not allowed in the tunnel but a new shuttle service will begin in November 2006. This shuttle service will operate from around the clock with a reduced overnight service and charge a daytime fare of VND12,000 per motocycle, VND5,000 per bicycle and VND3,000 per person.
A small waiting area is being established at each end of the tunnel where visitors can take photographs and watch a documentary about the making of the tunnel.
The tunnel reduces the distance between Danang and Huế by 20km and saves between 30 minutes and an hour on travelling times over the old Hai Van Pass route.
