M-7 alternate highway in Bashkiria will open in November 2024

The alternate highway for the M-7 "Volga" will be opened in November 2024, said the head of Rosavtodor Roman Novikov. It will bypass five villages of Bashkiria: Isametovo, Verkhneyarkeevo, Layashty, Ishkarovo, and Asyanovo.

"The construction of the 65-kilometer facility in Bashkiria has acquired a new global meaning - the road will become a high-speed corridor and connect the European part of Russia with the Kama region and the Urals. The highway will be in great demand not only for residents of the region but also for the entire country. Thanks to the high pace of work, it is planned to launch traffic on four lanes in November of this year, synchronously with the opening of multifunctional road service zones," the head of Rosavtodor said at a production meeting in Ufa.

The large-scale construction project was conceived even before the start of work on the Moscow-Kazan-Yekaterinburg-Tyumen high-speed route. The construction of a bypass road around five villages of Isametovo, Verkhneyarkeevo, Layashty, Ishkarovo, and Asyanovo on the section km 1169 - km 1231 of the M-7 "Volga" highway began in the fall of 2022. During this time, specialists from the contracting organization completed a whole range of work, and today, the facility is 67% complete, Rosavtodor reported. According to Denis Abramov, head of the Federal State Institution "Priuralye" Federal Road Administration, all 46 utility lines have been reconstructed. The roadbed and road surface have been constructed almost along the entire length of the new highway. The lower layer of the road surface has already been laid at 49 km, and the upper layer is at 20 km. The total volume of asphalt concrete mixture laid by the end of construction will exceed 1 million tons. The construction of 28 artificial structures is also at the finishing line. The overall readiness of six interchanges, three overpasses at the intersection with regional roads, two bridges, and 17 agricultural roads is about 80%. Much attention is also paid to the arrangement of the construction site and measures to ensure road safety. The project provides for installing 216 km of barrier fencing, 23 km of curbs, 923 road signs, and an automated traffic management system (ATMS). The system will inform drivers about the situation on the road in real-time. In addition, it is planned to apply 60 thousand square meters of road markings, the press service of Rosavtodor reported. As noted at the meeting, all these activities are already actively carried out thanks to timely financing and a high pace of work. Thus, electric lighting appeared on 44 km of the new four-lane road, and a barrier fence was installed on 39 km. No less important is the construction of four rest areas with the prospect of organizing multifunctional road service zones (MSZ). Four MSZs will be created at the 1196th and 1230th km on both sides of the road. They will include multi-fuel gas stations, cafes, car charging stations, parking, and rest areas. All of them will begin operating simultaneously with the launch of car traffic along the main road.

Author: Galina Bakhshieva