In a few days, the construction of the main section of Yerevan-Sevan-Ijevan-Azerbaijan border Interstate (M-4) highway will be completed. The road has already been assessed by users. «We did not even feel how we reached Ijevan. That road has always been bumpy and uncomfortable for traffic. In general, the road Yerevan - Sevan – Ijevan now is of very high quality, which greatly facilitates the travel»,- mentioned the drivers we interviewed. Of course, quality is an important guarantee of a good road, and both construction companies and construction materials are responsible for quality. We learned from the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Development of RA how the construction works were carried out. According to the given information, average repair works now are proceeding: milling of old asphalt concrete, pavement repair, smoothing and installation of asphalt concrete pavement. Major repairs have been carried out in some areas. The construction of highway is implemented with preservation of asphalt concrete technology: the road consists of one layer 5 cm thick. According to the information provided by the ministry, the following construction companies have carried out the construction of various sections of the road: «Chanaparh» Ltd, «AAB project» Ltd, «Ararat-Chanshin» Ltd. The latter is responsible for the refurbishment of 129.1km and 135.4km segments of the highway Yerevan-Sevan-Ijevan-Azerbaijan border. The works are planned to be finished by 10th of December 2019. The length of the refurbished segment of the Interstate (M-4) highway «Yerevan-Sevan-Ijevan-Azerbaijan border» is 58.9 km, 3,271M AMD has been allocated for the implementation of the project. Are similar road construction projects envisaged in 2020 and how much money is planned to spend? - we made this inquiry in the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of RA. «Definitely, as for the amount allocated, at this moment I can not say for sure... At present, the reconstruction project envisages the repair of 244.4 km road»,- David Kartashyan, the Head of the Road Policy Department, explained in a telephone conversation with us.

The new 2.7 km Argavand - Shirak highway construction is planned to be completed in 21 months. «The new road is of strategic importance for Yerevan and Armenia. Today we have four bridges in the capital, and the fifth will be built on Hrazdan River as part of the program. The road will greatly ease the traffic in the capital», - said the mayor of Yerevan signing the bilateral memoranda on construction of the highway. The municipality informed us that within the framework of the investment program on sustainable urban development financed by the Asian Development Bank, the new highway will have 4-6 lanes, the average width of which is 24-28 meters. The project includes 252 meters long and 28 meters wide bridge construction across Hrazdan River, as well as the construction of a single lane at the intersection of Isakov and Babajanyan streets. During construction works all the transport routes will be substituted. It should be noted, that the road Argavand-Shirak is part of the western ring road of Yerevan, connecting also the administrative districts Malatia-Sebastia and Shengavit. Luis Lopez Moloni, the official representative of Spanish company Levantina Inchenieria Costrucio noted, that their staff has a large experience to implement such projects, and ensured, that the works will be finished in due course. According to the project, a new bridge over Hrazdan River will be built from metal structures and will be equipped with a water and oil separator, which will prevent the pollution of the river. The project is being implemented taking into account that the road is located in the historical and cultural district of Karmir Blur, where during the archaeological excavations some ancient tombs were discovered. It is noteworthy, that the archeological monument Karmir Blur was one of the biggest administrative centers of the ancient kingdom of Urartu, the city of Teishebaini.

Due to North South highway construction Armenia will have a highway meeting international road construction standards. With the help of Meghri-Yerevan-Bavra highway, being now reconstructed, fast passenger and freight transportation will be provided from the south of our country to the Georgian border, and further to international trade routes. It is natural that such a strategically significant project would imply an appropriate high-quality approach and strict requirements. RA Minister of Transport, communication and information technologies Ashot Hakobyan emphasized during the meeting with the media: “Builders, engineers, technical controllers and designers, everyone will be equally responsible for the quality of the road construction. RA Prime Minister announced, “No more poor-quality roads in Armenia!”. We will do everything consistently to have a road that meets the required quality. We have one goal – to open a new page in the North-South Transport Corridor Investment Program.” Construction works of the first tranche have been completed in 2016, where some defects have been registered. These defects should be abolished by the contractor within the specified deadlines, assured the minister. The contractor was fined almost $ 6 million. The problem is, that American AASHTO road construction standards (chosen by the financing Asian Development Bank), according to which the North-South should be built, do not meet the climatic conditions of our country. Bronislaw Dimitrievich, the head of the SAFEGE company's work group for road quality control, notes that the problem is not the quality of cement, but that technical specifications have not been adapted to the geographical and climatic conditions of Armenia. Laboratory works are now underway to investigate and resolve all emerging technical issues. Concrete coating roads are predicted to serve for 20-25 years, notes the leading engineer-coordinator of the North-South Road Corridor Investment Program Aram Gugarats. When will the construction of the North-South Road Corridor be completed? It is impossible to give specific dates, because the financing sources are still unknown for the Tranche 5 and the overwhelming segment of Tranche 4. That is the reason, that RA Minister of Transport, communication and information technologies Ashot Hakobyan considers impossible to announce specific deadlines for road construction completion: “There is no financing for 4 sectors of the road: Artashat-Sisian 175km, that goes through mountain pass and complex relief, therefore, construction of tunnels and bridges is needed, bypass section of Gyumri, 23km, Gyumri-Bavra, 38km and Sisian-Kajaran, 60km. Only when the financing of these sections of the highway is solved and all the design and estimate documentation is prepared, it will be possible to speak about the deadlines. "

Reconstruction of 90 km long M6 Vanadzor-Alaverdi-Bagratashen interstate highway is to be completed in two phases. It is already one year that the project launched and now on many sections of the highway construction works are implemented. Vanadzor-Alaverdi stretch with 38.5 km length to be completed in the first phase of the project. This part also encompasses three tunnels and several bridges. The construction of the road section in Vanadzor city with the length of 6.6 km already completed and now is open for traffic. Reconstruction of 2 bridges out of 3 also was completed. The section of the road from Alaverdi to Bagratashen will be reconstructed during the second phase of the project. Works to start in spring 2018. The project financed with the support of European Investment Bank and Asian Bank, as well as co-financed from Armenian Government. The cost of the first phase of reconstruction is about 15 billion drams (around USD 31.5 million). The full project which passes through 33 communities will be finally commissioned in January 2020.

Russia has announced big plans for a superhighway that would effectively connect all the continents in the Northern Hemisphere, making it possible to travel from New York westward through Russia and on to London without the need for an airplane or a boat. The exact route hasn't been determined yet, but what is clear is that a plan such as this would create the largest, longest superhighway on Earth. The idea, dubbed the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development (TERP), would see a high speed railway and motorway built from Eastern Europe, across Siberia and over the Bering Strait to Alaska. At a meeting of the Russian Academy of Science, the head of the Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin presented the idea for the Trans-Eurasian belt Development (TEPR). Mr Yakunin has been engaged in the development of the project with academic Gennady Osipov and the rector of Moscow State University, Viktor Sadovnichy. During the meeting Vladimir Yakunin told that the project could link existing networks and supercharge global economic growth. The project would see not only a new train network built alongside the Trans-Siberian Railway but the construction of major roads, pipelines for oil and gas, and the laying of facilities for electricity and water supplies. "This is an inter-state, inter-civilization, project. It should be an alternative to the current model, which has caused a systemic crisis. The project should be turned into a world "future zone", and it must be based on leading, not catching, technologies," he said, according to the Siberian Times newspaper. If the idea is successful, it is expected that could create 10 to 15 new industries, new cities and a huge number of new jobs, as well as further development of Siberia and the Far East. Talking about a rough estimate for the costs of the project he said that it will require trillions of dollars, but insisted the economic returns would outweigh these investments. Today not all countries can provide high-speed railway network needed for this project. In Eastern Europe the European Union is separately drawing up plans for a high speed rail corridor to connect the Baltic States to Western Europe's high speed rail network - which runs through the Channel Tunnel to London. North American passenger railways are comparative undeveloped, however. Plans drawn up by President Obama to develop high speed rail corridors across the United States have stalled amid opposition. Bridges and tunnels spanning the Bering Strait have been proposed since the late 19th century but none has ever been built. The Russian government has expressed public support for a number of proposals in recent years but ground has not been broken on any of them, reported The Independent. China and Russia also unveiled a separate plan last year to connect, as well as a plan for a continent-spanning rail network that could cross the Bering Strait .