Only cars will be permitted to use the main lanes of the Thang Long Highway from January 8, due to safety reasons.

Road maintenance workers and vehicles can use the road, providing they do not affect traffic. The Transport Ministry has also banned the construction and installation of advertising boards.

The municipal Department of Transport has been instructed to establish a traffic management office for the highway to manage and handle traffic problems.

Guards would be assigned around the clock to ensure traffic order and safety along the road is maintained and to deal with any accidents that may occur, said the department's deputy chief inspector Hoang Van Manh.

"Those who steal, remove or damage the road or tamper with traffic signals or barriers that threaten traffic safety will be liable to administrative punishment or take legal responsibility depending on the level of the infringement," he said.

Thang Long Highway, beginning at the intersection of Lang-Hoa Lac Road and Belt Road III and ending at the intersection between Lang-Hoa Lac Road , National Highway No 21 and Ho Chi Minh Road , is the longest dual carriageway in the country at about 30km.

It is 140-170 metres wide with six express lanes and two additional lanes for motorcycles and bicycles.

The highway was opened to traffic on October 3 and traffic violations have been steadily increasing ever since. Motorbikes, self-modified vehicles, and buses are driven in car-only lanes and local residents have been driving against the traffic flow to shorten journey times./.