Hanoi’s main entry points experienced heavy congestion on Saturday afternoon as large numbers of people returned to the city following the 2025 Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday. The influx of vehicles caused severe bottlenecks at multiple gateways.
Starting around 4:00 pm on the eighth day of the nine-day Tet holiday, major routes leading into the capital, including the Phap Van-Cau Gie expressway at the southern entrance, saw traffic slow to a crawl. According the report, vehicle queues stretched nearly three kilometers. Many frustrated drivers attempted to bypass the congestion by using emergency lanes, which only worsened the situation.
Similar gridlock was reported on Beltway 3 and Thanh Tri Bridge, where a massive volume of vehicles moved sluggishly toward the city center. Co Linh Street, a key eastern gateway into Hanoi, also became heavily congested, turning into another major bottleneck.
Among the commuters navigating the traffic on Co Linh Street was 32-year-old Nguyen Van Bao, who was heading toward Vinh Tuy Bridge. He explained his early return, saying, “Although the Tet holiday isn’t over, I want some time to rest before work resumes. Tomorrow, I plan to take my kids out in Hanoi before they go back to school.”
To ease the congestion, Hanoi’s traffic police deployed officers at critical intersections to regulate the flow of vehicles and handle incidents promptly. Meanwhile, the Traffic Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security has warned that return traffic to Hanoi is expected to intensify in the coming days.
In response, authorities plan to increase the deployment of mobile patrol teams and coordinate closely with local traffic police to improve traffic management.
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Source: Vietnam Insider