The 51-km Lo Te-Rach Soi Expressway opened to traffic in early 2021. It has four lanes and a speed limit of 80km an hour, facilitating economic development in the southwestern region.

After just three years being put into use, many road sections have seen damage with large potholes, posing difficulties and dangers to drivers.

Bus driver Nguyen Tan Phong said he feared travelling on this road daily.

"The road surface has been badly damaged, causing large holes up to 30 cm deep," Phong said. It is hazardous during heavy rain when drivers can't see the holes."

Another driver, Tran Van Hung, said he can only run at 30-40km/h on the expressway. "All four lanes in both directions are full of stones and holes. We hope that the upgrade project of this road will be completed as soon as possible."

The My Thuan Project Management Board recently began upgrading the Lo Te-Rach Soi Expressway under the instruction of the Minister of Transport.

As planned, the project will expand emergency lanes, add new emergency stops, improve signage, and paint road markings on the route to meet the approved expressway standards.

The VND750-billion upgrade project is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

According to the Ministry of Transport, the expressway was built on weak foundations in the first phase of the project, which were not properly addressed due to a lack of capital.

As planned, the road will eventually be expanded to a six-lane expressway as part of the North-South Expressway project in the southwest region.

The project’s first phase cost VND6.35 trillion (USD252 million), using funding from South Korea’s Economic Development Co-operation Fund and reciprocal Vietnamese capital.