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The first stage in the construction of a bridge over the Svir River in Podporozhye, the Leningrad Region, has been completed ahead of schedule. The structure plays an important role for local residents and the neighbouring region, the Republic of Karelia, handling continuous freight transit towards St Petersburg.

Sections of the R-217 Caucasus Highway have been widened from two to four lanes in Daghestan. This will reduce accident rates and expand the route’s capacity. The 274-kilometre Caucasus Highway links Vladikavkaz with Grozny and Makhachkala and reaches the border with Azerbaijan.

A system of transport interchanges that has been built on the M-4 Don Motorway near Gelendzhik will make it possible to reduce traffic congestion in the city and to speed up traffic on tourist routes.

A bridge over the Kalmius River, facilitating vehicle and tram traffic between the Central and Levoberezhny (Left Bank) districts of Mariupol, has been overhauled.

A 40-km section of the R-242 Perm-Yekaterinburg road, part of the M-12 Vostok (East) Motorway, has been repaired ahead of schedule in the Sverdlovsk Region. Work on this project was carried out 24/7.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Khusnullin, colleagues, friends,

Yesterday, Russia marked Road Workers’ Day. I congratulate the sector’s veterans and current employees, including designers, engineers, builders and ordinary workers, on their professional holiday. I would like to thank you for your dedication, for accomplishing various objectives, and I wish you and all your families and friends good health and every success.

Public road system is one of the most important sectors of the domestic economy, and it is very important that road builders confidently implement their plans and ensure a high pace of development of roads, including motorways that are part of the backbone network of roads and international transport corridors.

In 2022, it became possible to achieve earlier targets and to upgrade 50 percent of regional roads in accordance with pre-set standards. Since early 2023, road construction projects have been proceeding at a lively pace. We have already built and resurfaced over 10,000 km of roads, including over 2,000 km of federal roads and over 8,000 km of regional and local roads.

Overall, more than 31,000 kilometres of roads will be built, reconstructed or repaired in 2023. We just talked about this with Mr Khusnullin; in 2022, it was 29,000 kilometres, and this year it will be around 31,000 kilometres. The pace is very good. By the end of the next year, the sector should reach a new important threshold – to bring up to set standards 85 percent of highways in the country’s major agglomerations.

Today, we are putting several road facilities into operation. Thus, the bridge in Mariupol has undergone a major overhaul, which will help restore transit between the city’s districts. But it is especially important that this project will reduce traffic congestions on the Novorossiya federal highway towards Crimea and improve the peninsula’s transport accessibility.

Today, we are also opening the upgraded sections of the Caucasus motorway in Daghestan. This road connects Vladikavkaz with Grozny and Makhachkala and runs to the border of the Republic of Azerbaijan. We will continue to implement projects to modernise this road and build bypass roads around Makhachkala, Khasavyurt, Derbent and other communities to provide for the development of the strategically important North-South transport corridor. I recently discussed this issue with the President of Azerbaijan. It is important for our partners to complete these facilities because they are also working on large projects in this area.

The renovation of a section of the Perm-Yekaterinburg motorway has also been completed. The road is part of the Vostok transport corridor that connects Moscow with Kazan and Yekaterinburg. The development of this and other transport corridors will remain our priority.

Also, new interchanges on the Don motorway near Gelendzhik have been built. They will ease the traffic load on the city, make traffic on tourist routes faster and improve the environmental situation.

The first stage of the construction of a pedestrian overpass in Podporozhye, the Leningrad Region, has been completed ahead of schedule. The implementation of this project will improve the connectivity of the communities in this region.

I want to thank everyone who took part in the construction of these important facilities, and also your partners and suppliers who delivered construction materials and equipment.

We will definitely continue to create modern, fast and safer transport networks and prioritise the development of the most important transport corridors. I know that all of our plans related to road construction will be implemented.

I once again thank everyone who was part of the construction of these transport facilities that we are opening today and I wish all of you success.

Let’s move on to reports about what has been done and how the work went. I would very much like to hear about it.

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