Russia is planning to develop the Moscow-Kazan highway link. This connection will run from the country’s capital to Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan.
Construction work on the 729km highway is of prime importance for Russia and will form part of the nation’s much wider economic recovery plan. Building the improved highway link is expected to take four years, with work commencing later in 2020.
The route of the improved M7 highway will run past Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod and Cheboksary, with a bridge spanning the Volga River. The highway construction and upgrade work is expected to cost close to US$11 billion in all.
Further upgrades to the M7 route are expected for the stretch linking Kazan with Ufa to the east.
Meanwhile, tendering is opening for a new bridge in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk region. The structure will span the Yenisei River, to the north of Kazan and the bridge is expected to cost close to $107 million to build.
Included in the contract for the bridge will be the construction of 2km of link roads. The bridge itself will measure 1.9km in length and is planned to be ready for traffic by 2023.
The collapse of the rail bridge connecting to the busy Russian port of Murmansk has caused major transport problems in the area. Heavy goods and passengers are now having to be transported to and from the port by road. The 90 year old bridge was repaired in 2014 but was damaged recently by heavy flooding. An investigation is now being carried out into the collapse. There has been criticism of the maintenance of the structure.
