The Crimean Ministry of Transport has adopted the final variant of the “Tavrida” highway connecting the cities of Kerch and Sevastopol whilst by-passing Simferopol. They also adopted the final cost sheet of the project. The highway will be laid through 6 Crimean towns and 43 villages. As Anatoly Volkov, Minister of Transport of the Republic of Crimea, told journalists, the highway project designers managed to solve the most complicated issues connected with the highway junction near Simferopol and near the airport.
To remind you, the RF Prime-Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, paid special attention to the construction of the highway near Simferopol during one of his visits to the peninsula.
Mr Medvedev stressed that the final cost of the highway construction reached 139 bln roubles ($2.17 bln) and cannot be increased. At the same time, the budget may be achieved due to modern technical solutions and not at the expense of the road quality.
The route project designed means that about 20 houses will have to be demolished. As a representative of the “Stroyproekt” institute, Alexander Nikitkin, explained, having designed it, the presented project is the optimal and most efficient. The construction of the road by-passing these houses would add a significant price increase to the work.
At present the government of the peninsula are working out the mechanism of repayment of the property cost for rehousing people. Anatoly Volkov announced that professional evaluators and land-surveyors will be involved. He also remarked that different variants of repayment and compensation will be provided: offering another land plot, financial consideration, etc.
The development and adoption of all project components of the “Tavrida” highway are to be completed by April 1st, 2017. Then the first stage of construction will start, for which it has already been financed.
Deputy manager of the Crimean Service of automobile roads, Igor Kravchenko, remarked that the highway will consist of six sections, four of which have already been developed.
In the course of construction, 60% of the construction materials to be used will be produced or quarried in Crimea and about 40% will be brought from the mainland.
The main problem being solved by the Crimean government at the moment is the strict control of contractors and suppliers regarding both the quality and terms.
Currently, the route from the Kerch passage, which is the only land gate to the peninsula, to Sevastopol takes about 7—8 hours, and 5—6 hours to Simferopol. Bad roads increase the driving time, especially between Kerch and Sudak, and besides these there are bottlenecks near Simferopol. The construction of the “Tavrida” highway will shorten the way from Kerch to Sevastopol to 4 hours.
The construction of the first two lanes of the highway with further commissioning will be completed during the winter, 2018. The fully realised four-lane highway will be ready by the end of 2020. Its total length will be 300 km.
Anna ZHURBA