Da Nang Story · November 2026 · By Life of Da Nang
Nguyen Van Troi Bridge: Da Nang's Old Bridge That Lifts
Beside the Tran Thi Ly Bridge runs a steel bridge from the 1960s. Da Nang planned to take it down. The city kept it, and now one part of it can lift.
Side by side with the Tran Thi Ly Bridge, whose tall tower leans 12 degrees, runs an older bridge made of steel arches. This is the Nguyen Van Troi Bridge. Vehicles stopped crossing it in 2013.
Today it is a bridge for people on foot, and its main section can lift up.
Built in the 1960s
An American company, RMK, built it in the 1960s. It was the first road bridge across the Han River. The US army used it to move war equipment from Tien Sa port into the city.
It is 513.8 metres long and 10.5 metres wide, made of 14 sections of steel frames shaped like arches. It had no path for people on foot. The road on top was wood at first.
It was changed to concrete in 1978, then to steel plates in 1996 to make it lighter, because its base was weak.
After 1975, it was named after Nguyen Van Troi, a hero from Quang Nam. It was the main road between the two sides of the river until the Han River Bridge opened in 2000.
The plan to take it down
When the new Tran Thi Ly Bridge was planned, the first idea was to take the old bridge down. In February 2012, Nguyen Ba Thanh, the city's Party leader at the time, asked for a way to keep it, as a bridge where people can stop, walk and look at the city.
On 29 March 2013, the new Tran Thi Ly Bridge and the Dragon Bridge opened to traffic. That same month, the Nguyen Van Troi Bridge closed to traffic, so it could be turned into a walking bridge.
The section that lifts
Boats still had to pass under it. Raising that section for good would mean raising the parts beside it too, and the old shape would change. So Vietnamese engineers turned the main section into one that can go up and down.
That section is 36.45 metres long, 8 metres wide and weighs nearly 200 tonnes. Four hydraulic jacks, each able to push 100 tonnes, lift it 3.6 metres.
In September 2020, Storm Noul hit central Vietnam. For the first time, the section was lifted for real, so boats could move along the river. Hundreds of people came to watch.
People who had lived in Da Nang for many years said they never knew the bridge could do this.
Walking on the bridge today
On 31 May 2024, the bridge and the park at its east end opened for evening visits. On 26 April 2026, the closing ao dai show of the Da Nang Ao Dai Festival was held at the bridge.
To walk it, start at the park on Tran Hung Dao and Chuong Duong streets, on the east bank. A 65-year-old man from An Hai ward said in a Dan Tri report from October 2026 that late afternoon is the best time.
From the middle, he said, you see modern Da Nang and the Da Nang of the past at once.
Sources