A new era has begun for the increasingly busy mountain city.

VnExpress reports that Da Lat witnessed the installation of its first traffic light on Tuesday this week, specifically at the intersection of Hoang Van Thu, Tran Phu and Ba Thang Hai streets.

What was once a quaint town in the mountains of the Central Highlands has turned into a full-blown holiday destination, with free-wheeling traffic circles and junctions turning into dangerous headaches for drivers on busy days.

According to the news source, traffic lights will be installed at six other intersections in Da Lat by the end of the year as part of a US$6.2 million project to reduce traffic congestion. Nonetheless, with domestic tourism still on ice because of COVID-19, it will take a while to see if the new traffic lights are effective.

The city's population has boomed over the last decade, and it is now home to around 230,000 people, while roughly seven million tourists visited per year before the pandemic began.

City officials have proposed other plans aimed at reducing traffic, including parking garages at major entrance points and a ban on large tour buses that frequently cause jams, but these ideas haven't gone beyond the drawing board.