Mui Ne in 3 hours by 2015?

Plug in 'Mui Ne' and 'Ho Chi Minh City' to Google Maps 'get directions' and it shows a distance of 223km, with a modest estimate of 3 hours 50 minutes. I'm not sure if the Google Maps algorithm includes calculations for getting out of District 1 and over the Saigon Bridge, or passing through Bien Hoa. I have done the journey in 4 hours straight, door to door, Mui Ne to Phu My Hung. That's pretty good going and only due to a relatively easy passage through Bien Hoa and private transport. Those taking the bus need to start out in the heart of the city and the journey usually takes 5 hours minimum - a less than amusing time-to-distance ratio. That's an average of 44 kilometres an hour. I'd say the average for the first two hours (HCMC-Bien Hoa) is 30 kmph.

Any frequent road traveller will tell that once you are past Bien Hoa it's fairly good going, allbeit on a dangerous single lane road, but no gridlock. It's a 124km dash through ever less densely populated countryside until you approach Phan Thiet city. One of the wonders of the modern world is how there isn't a bypass of BH city, as currently all traffic has no option but to crawl through the city centre.

Come to the rescue, new Long Thanh International Airport and associated infrastructure project Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thanh – Dau Day Expressway. The first phase of the new airport should be underway now and *should be* completed in 2015. The express way, according to this document from the Asia Development Bank:

comprises construction of approximately 51 kilometers of four-lane, tolled expressway. The expressway will commence at the junction of the Second Ring Road in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), and end at a junction with National Highway 1 at Dau Giay, Dong Nai Province. It will provide a direct connection from the center of HCMC to economic growth areas in provinces to the north of HCMC along National Highway 1, which connects HCMC to Hanoi. The expressway will be a toll road, with access initially restricted to three locations: the intersection with the Second Ring Road, the intersection with National Highway 51 at the southern end of Long Thanh town, and at Dau Giay. The Project includes construction of a major new 1,700-meter bridge over the Dong Nai River at Long Thanh, and two rest and service areas

So, having looked on the map, the new highway should cut a path directly south of Bein Hoa and link up with Highway 1A on the other side of the airport. This also means the journey to Mui Ne will be significantly cut, probably to around 3 hours. Great, great news..for some time in the next ten years...!


View HCMC-Dau Giay Expressway in a larger map