The construction of the Toghanali-Kalbajar-Istisu highway, one of the important infrastructure projects implemented in the Karabakh and East Zangezur economic regions, is continuing rapidly, APA-Economics reports.
The total length of the project is 82 km.
The highway connects the Goygol and Kalbajar districts. The Toghanali-Kalbajar section of the road is 56 km long, and the Kalbajar-Istisu section is 26 km long. The Murovdagh range begins from the 16th kilometer of the road, and the altitude here rises from 1,700 meters to 3,250 meters.
The construction of the Murovdagh tunnel, which will be one of the longest automobile tunnels in the world, is underway in this area. The tunnel, with a total length of 23,401.8 meters, will have 4 lanes, two outgoing and two incoming. In addition, 4 more tunnels with lengths of 561.2 m, 626.9 m, 500 m, and 947.9 m are being constructed within the project.
Murovdagh Tunnel (Tunnel No. 3) consists of left and right sections, with lengths of 11,711.5 m and 11,690.3 m, respectively. A total of 18,160.3 meters of drilling and concrete pouring have been completed in the tunnel. Out of 37 passage tunnels connecting the right and left sections of the tunnel, 36 have been constructed, and work is ongoing on one.
The status of work on other tunnels is as follows:
- Drilling, pouring and concrete pouring have been completed on Tunnel No. 1 (561.2 m), Tunnel No. 2 (626.9 m), Tunnel No. 4 (500 m) and Tunnel No. 5 (947.9 m).
According to the President's instructions, the road is being built in accordance with technical grades I, II and III, with 2, 3, and 4 lanes. The main part of the road is being built in accordance with technical grade II (2 lanes, additional lanes on slopes), and the part with the Murovdagh tunnel is being built in accordance with technical grade I (4 lanes).
The length of the road by technical grade is as follows:
- Grade I – 14.2 km
- Grade II – 34.8 km
- Grade III – 33 km
The project also envisages the construction of 6 road junctions with a total length of 2,968 meters and 35 connecting roads with a length of 4,594 meters.
Currently, land clearing, vegetation removal, excavation, backfilling, and construction of artificial structures are being carried out throughout the project. Construction of the road base and laying of asphalt-concrete pavement are being carried out in the completed sections.
The volume of work done on road surfacing works:
-Levelling layer – 56 km
-Sub-base layer – 38 km
-Base layer and top layer – 55 km each
-Lower layer of road pavement – 52 km
Engineering facilities envisaged within the scope of construction:
- 162 circular pipes (total 3,581 m)
- 119 rectangular pipes (4,825 m)
- 1 Animal Crossing (29 m)
- 14 U-type artificial structures (4,552 m)
- 2,598 m long trapezoidal channel
- 76,556 m² Geo-erme wall
- 8,661 m retaining wall
- 46,705 m stone wall (support/reference)
Works done so far:
- 147 circular and 97 rectangular pipes,
- 1 Animal Crossing
- 14 U-type structures,
- 32,475 m long stone wall,
- 8,661 m retaining wall,
- 1,057 m trapezoidal channel,
- 77,743 m² Geoerme wall has been completed.
In general, the level of implementation of physical work on the project has reached 85%.
Note that the Toghanali-Kalbajar-Istisu highway starts from the Toghanali village of the Goygol district and passes through the territory of the liberated Kalbajar district. This road will provide convenient and safe transport connections to many settlements of the region and the famous Istisu recreation area, in addition to the regional center.
