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The President drove a Russian-made Lada Aura car to a site near the bridge across the Volga River on the 155^th kilometre of the M-11 Motorway. He was accompanied by engineer Vasily Vasilyev, who took part in the construction.

The opening ceremony for the bypass roads was attended by their builders, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Central Federal District Igor Shchegolev, Acting Governor of the Samara Region Vyacheslav Fedorishchev (via videoconference), Tver Region Governor Igor Rudenya, and Avtodor Chairman of the Board Vyacheslav Petushenko.

The 62.4 km long bypass of the Tver city is the final stage of the M-11 Neva motorway construction. Its opening will ensure non-stop high-speed traffic between St Petersburg and Moscow, reducing travel time from the west to the east of the country towards Samara, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, and Tyumen. A 738 meter long bridge across the Volga at the 155^th km of M-11 is the largest engineering structure of the Tver bypass.

The opening of a 100 km long Toglatti bypass relieves the road congestion at the Zhigulevskaya HPP dam, thus helping to unlock the export, logistics, industrial, and tourism potential of the Volga region. Construction was carried out at the President’s instruction as part of the Europe – Western China international transport route. The bypass includes a bridge across the Volga over 3.7 km long, making it one of the ten longest engineering structures in Russia.

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Excerpts from the opening ceremony for the Tver and Togliatti bypass roads

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, friends.

Today, we are unveiling new sections of critically important roads in the Samara Region and here, in the Tver Region. We are taking yet another step towards strengthening the transport and economic connectivity of our regions, developing effective logistics and a safe road network and forward-looking international transport corridors, and most importantly, improving the quality of our people’s lives because transport and logistics are the foundation and the basis for enhancing economic activity and, therefore, the quality of life.

The Avtodor State Company is greatly contributing to this project. It will mark its 15^th anniversary tomorrow. I would like to congratulate your large and close-knit team on this event and to wish you all the best.

It is largely thanks to your work and professionalism in road construction that we have implemented a number of major projects, such as the M-11 Neva and the M-12 Vostok motorways and the Central Ring Road.

I would like to note that Avtodor professionals have actively joined in renovation of the transport infrastructure in Donbass and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. I have no doubt whatsoever that you will do an excellent job coping with all your tasks in these regions and throughout Russia. I wish you further success.

Today, we are opening one of Avtodor’s projects here in Tver – a modern 60-km bypass road around the city – nearly a year ahead of schedule. It is actually the final stage of the construction of the M-11 Neva Motorway.

The Tver bypass will open continuous, seamless, and traffic light-free high-speed traffic between Moscow and St Petersburg. Travel time from the northwestern part of Russia to Samara, Kazan, Yekaterinburg and Tyumen will be reduced, and additional, more convenient routes will become available as part of the North-South international transport corridor, which means that travel between our country’s major economic, cultural and historical centres will become faster.

I have just spoken with your colleague [engineer Vasily Vasilyev] – I had some background information that travel between Moscow and St Petersburg would be 30 minutes faster, but he said it would be cut by almost an hour, 50 minutes. This is already noticeable.

Also today, we are opening a 100-kilometre road bypass of Togliatti. This new motorway will make vehicle movement in the region safer and more comfortable, will relieve traffic congestion on the road along the Zhigulevskaya hydroelectric dam, and in general, will help to fully unlock the export, logistics, industrial, and tourist potential of the Volga region.

I would like to note that building these roads involved the development of complex infrastructure, including two new bridges across the Volga. One is here in the Tver Region (we have just driven across it); it is over 700 metres long. The other, 3,700 metre bridge is near Togliatti. It is one of the ten longest pieces of transport infrastructure in Russia.

Once again, I would like to thank our specialists – designers, builders, bridge builders and managers – for their tremendous effort. Your work is of extreme importance. Reliable roads are one of the key conditions for the dynamic growth of the entire Russian economy. They make it worthwhile to invest in making these regions attractive in other ways, to improve the quality of life of people, as I have mentioned, spur on the development of cities and towns, and contribute to the growth of domestic tourism.

For example, the road bypassing Tver will enable quick and comfortable travel to the amazingly beautiful places around Lake Valdai, as well as to the old city of Torzhok with its unique historical and cultural landmarks. And the Togliatti bypass will make it easier to reach the Samarskaya Luka National Park and the Zhiguli Nature Reserve.

In addition, today’s event is part of the implementation of our plans and international agreements on the development of the Eurasian road network, the Russian section of the Europe-Western China route from St Petersburg to Orenburg and the Sagarchin international automobile checkpoint to Kazakhstan and on to the People’s Republic of China.

Other far-reaching system-wide plans call for the further development of the Russia and North-South transport corridors, and most importantly, for the creation of a cutting-edge road network throughout the country, in every region, in cities and towns, and in rural areas across Russia.

I wish you and your teams, our builders and road workers new great achievements. All the best to you and all your loved ones.

Thank you for your work.

Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin: Mr President, colleagues.

Thanks to the system-wide support that you have provided to the road construction sector, we enjoy stable results year in and year out. Today’s facilities clearly prove it.

We have implemented the Safe and High-Quality Roads project, which is part of the regional network, last year which is earlier than planned. Without a doubt, this year we will implement the project to bring roads in major urban areas up to standard. We have integrated this project with the infrastructure for life in order to bring roads within communities, connecting roads, residential areas, and workplaces together in one project. We have almost completed this work and will be ready to present it to you soon.

Today’s facilities are a vital part of our international corridors, such as the North-South corridor, as you called it, the Rossiya corridor from St Petersburg to Vladivostok, and Europe-Western China corridor, as well as a link to the entire core network in general.

These corridors are home to over 50 percent of our country’s population. So, the issue is not just about hauling international cargo, but first and foremost about developing our country and improving our population centres. For example, the Tver bypass is part of all three transport corridors and is a critical element of these transport corridors.

Tourism is making rapid strides. Even though we have completed the construction of the northern bypass of Tver today, we are planning to build a number of exit ramps on your instructions inside Tver and closer to Valdai, which will boost tourism.

Speaking about the Togliatti bypass, it is a crucial section of the Europe-Western China route. In 2014, the SCO countries signed an agreement on this corridor which is 9,000 kilometres long, with 2,400 kilometres of it passing across the Russian Federation. Today, with this project launched, 67 percent of this road has four or more lanes, meaning it is a full-fledged expressway.

We have reached an agreement with our colleagues from Kazakhstan to integrate our plans. They came close to Kyzylorda, and we are going further from Samara towards Orenburg and the border. Eventually, a full-fledged 9,200 km-long expressway will connect the Yellow Sea, the city of Lianyungang, to St Petersburg. Today’s bypass is an important part of this project.

I am not even talking about the fact that 3 million people live around Togliatti today. This is housing construction, industrial development, and tourism, which you mentioned. This is critically important for the entire Volga Region. Today, we are about to finish the construction of this section.

Mr President, builders and the Avtodor company, which finished the project one year ahead of schedule to mark its anniversary, have worked as a team.

We were able to achieve these results, because despite the difficulties, you have always supported us financially, and we were always properly funded and were able to engage in current construction and advance construction alike.

Considering this, I would like to say a huge thank you to you and a huge thank you to the entire team. Governors supported us, and the new head, Acting Governor of the Samara Region Vyacheslav Fedorishchev stepped up from day one. Igor Rudenya and I have been involved in these projects from day one, which helped us commission these projects ahead of schedule.

I would like to thank the Avtodor team for the excellent work.

I hope every goal you set in the future will get fulfilled just like this one.

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Vladimir Putin: In conclusion, I would like to say that large-scale, good, effective and very important work has been completed. It is very important to ensure the transport and logistics connectivity between regions in any country, especially in our country, the Russian Federation, with its vast territory.

In my opening remarks, I have already said that this greatly increases the economic potential and boosts the quality of people’s lives. This is absolutely obvious. This amounts to large-scale and useful work, and I would like to thank you for the result once again. I am also saying Bon Voyage with pleasure to all the drivers and motorists.

Thank you. I wish you all the best, and goodbye.