Hanoi police have installed more traffic lights and signs at O Cho Dua seven-way crossroads in a bid to ease traffic congestion.

More traffic police have been assigned to direct vehicles through the heavily-congested crossroad in Dong Da district.

Director of the municipal Transport Department Nguyen Quoc Hung told Kinh te and Do Thi (Economy and Urban Areas) Newspaper the intersection services a substantial amount of vehicles each day and had long been a "hot" spot for traffic congestion.

Traffic researchers were deployed to carefully study direction and time patterns to arrange traffic at the crossroads more effectively, he said.

A 500-m project linking O Cho Dua and Hoang Cau street was officially opened to the public last month in an effort to facilitate transportation through the crossroad. It is part of the city's Belt Road No.1 project.

According to the local authorities, the site clearance compensation for the road section had been raised to over 743 billion VND (35 million USD) from the previous 527 billion VND approved in 2008, becoming the most expensive in the country.

Hoang Thu Hanh, who often goes across the crossroad to for work, said traffic conditions were terrible, particularly during rush hour. "It used to take me between 30-45 minutes to be back home. But now, the time was reduced by half," she said.-VNA