New 13 km section of East-West highway opens in Georgia
The bypass road is supposed to ‘significantly reduce’ traffic jams in Khashuri as transit traffic will pass through a completely new road. Furthermore, the Khashuri Bypass Road will reduce travel time by 40-50 percent. Photo: PM's press office
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The Khashuri bypass road, a new 13 km section of Georgia’s major transport artery, the East-West Highway, has opened today.
The project was implemented with the financial support of the European Investment Bank (EIB) with the financial warrant of the European Union (133 million GEL) and the World Bank (50 million GEL).
Deputy Head of Mission of EU Representation to Georgia Asuncion Sanchez Ruiz has tweeted:
Here another example of what the #EU does in #Georgia.Khashuri bypass inaugurated today!Facilitates transport links for business, improves safety and reduces transport time for citizens and tourists.Western Georgia now closer to Tbilisi!#TeamEurope #StrongerTogether @EUinGeorgia https://t.co/aGfc0yDtin
— Asunción Sánchez Ruiz ???????????????? (@AsunSchezRuiz) August 22, 2020
Today as this road opens, people will no longer need to pass through Khashuri while travelling on the West-East Highway. What does this mean for the residents of Khashuri? First of all, this means safety”, Gakharia said at today’s opening.
He also noted that earlier this year a 19 km section of the Kutaisi bypass road and a 12 km section of the Japana-Lanchkhuti road also opened. Moreover, Gakharia said that a total of 70 km of the East-West Highway will be opened this year.
Works are also underway on the Batumi Bypass Road and by 2022 we will live in a different country”, PM Gakharia said.
The project aims to modernise the country’s infrastructural development, as well as to improve regional connectivity and road transport efficiency. Photo: PM's press office
The four-lane road has been put into operation across 11.5 km of the 13-kilometer section of the Khashuri bypass road, with the remaining 1.5 kilometers temporarily operating as a two-lane road, PM’s press office reported.
It further noted that the construction of two additional lanes on the 1.5 km section will be completed later in October and the entire Khashuri bypass road will consist of four lanes.
The section of the Zemo Osiauri-Chumateleti Project is a constituent part of the East-West Highway (E60). Photo: PM’s press office
The Khashuri bypass road begins at the last section of the Agara-Zemo Osiauri road, connecting the existing road at the newly constructed junction in Surami.
The bypass road is supposed to ‘significantly reduce’ traffic jams in Khashuri; transit traffic will pass through a completely new road, while the Khashuri bypass road will reduce travel time by 40-50 percent.
1TV released a video of the new bypass road:
Ongoing work on a highway of "crucial" importance, set to connect Georgia's capital Tbilisi with the Black Sea city of Batumi, will be completed soon, prime minister Giorgi Gakharia told reporters on Saturday.
800 km of roads have been rebuilt across Georgia in 2019, which is almost four times more compared to the previous year, said Head of the Roads Department Irakli Karseladze earlier today.
World leading financial institutions the World Bank (WB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) are helping Georgia upgrade the country’s main transport route - the East-West highway.
The World Bank Group is continuing to support Georgia’s transformation into a regional transport and logistics hub by offering the country a large financial support package.
The European Investment Bank has provided an additional €106.7 million to upgrade two sections of Georgia's East-West (E60) highway, the country’s main road artery, and extend the motorway to the borders with Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili stated that the travel time from Tbilisi to Batumi will be just three hours by 2024 after the construction of 96 bridges and 53 tunnels will be completed on the Rikoti Pass. Currently the trip takes between five-six hours. Garibashvili noted that projects of such scale and complexity have not been implemented in the country.
The first 2 km two-lane section of the Rikoti Highway, a mountain pass which divides Georgia into its eastern and western parts, has opened today, announces the Ministry of Infrastructure. Georgian Infrastructure Minister Irakli Karseladze said that currently traffic is open on two lanes of a 2 km four-lane section, while the construction of a parallel two-lane road is underway.
The two sections of the Samtredia-Grigoleti and Grigoleti-Kobuleti roads in Georgia’s west, in total 15 km of the East-West highway, were opened on Saturday, the Georgian Infrastructure Ministry announced.