The Hanoi Department of Construction has warned that the plan to turn the elevated Ring Road 3 into three lanes per direction while removing the emergency stopping lane does not meet technical standards and could worsen traffic incidents. Understanding these technical arguments helps commuters see why the change may be unsafe.

Ring Road 3 carries about 120,000 vehicles per day, which is 6‑8 times its original design capacity of roughly 15,000‑16,000 trips. The Department of Construction notes that this volume far exceeds what the road was built to handle.

The elevated segment from Thanh Tri Bridge to Thang Long Bridge was built to urban expressway standards, with each direction 10.75 m wide, containing two automobile lanes of 3.75 m each and a 2.5 m emergency lane. Technical standard QCVN 117:2024/BGTVT requires a minimum lane width of 3.75 m for Class 100/120 roads and at least a 0.25 m safety strip.

If the road were reconfigured into three lanes, the Department of Construction calculates that each lane would be only 3‑3.25 m wide and the safety strip would fall below 0.5 m, which breaches the QCVN 117:2024/BGTVT requirements. The Department therefore concluded that the three‑lane, no‑emergency‑lane plan is non‑compliant and unsafe.

Without an emergency lane, a stalled vehicle or accident would block a traffic lane, quickly creating a bottleneck and preventing fire engines, ambulances and rescue crews from reaching the scene. The Department of Construction stresses that keeping the emergency lane is essential for traffic safety and to avoid additional congestion.