Final phase of ADB-financed bypass road program starts

ArmInfo. At present, the construction of the road section of the highway is underway, which will connect Babajanyan Street in Yerevan with the city of Ashtarak.  This was reported by the press service of Yerevan Municipality.  

According to the source, the new road will become part of Yerevan's  western ring road. In fact, this is the last stage of the  construction of a new road under the sustainable urban development  program funded by the Asian Development Bank.

Yerevan Mayor Hrachya Sargsyan followed the progress of the project  on the spot. "The city already has effective experience in building  such roads. The city is developing and it needs alternative roads.  The process with this particular section took quite a long time. In  agreement with the residents, changes were made to the project. For  this reason, the project has become more expensive, but,  nevertheless, I believe that we went on the right path, the right  decisions were made," the mayor said.

The total length of the Babajanyan-Ashtarak road section is 9.4 km,  the width of the road surface is 24 m. It will have 3 traffic lanes,  3 intersections with secondary roads, and 1 transport hub at the  intersection with Silikyan Street. All existing power lines have been  relocated. The outdoor lighting system is equipped with LED  energy-saving lamps. "Two-thirds of the road was put into operation  more than a year ago, about 90% of the works have been completed by  one-third. At present, the construction of the bridge continues, four  supports of which have already been installed, two are in the  process," said Nora Martirosyan, program manager.  At the moment,  construction is underway between the Babajanyan-Ashtarak and  Argavand-Shirak intersections.  Taking into account that Babajanyan  street will also serve the vehicles moving from north to south, it  was decided to include it in the total scope of the contract and  overhaul it.

"After the completion of the Argavand-Shirak road section, we saw  that Babajanyan Street had been badly damaged over the past 10 years,  and there is a need for major repairs, which will be carried out  using the funds saved during the construction of the Argavand-Shirak  road section. Both the Asian Development Bank and the Government of  the Republic of Armenia gave their consent to this," Nora Martirosyan  said.

According to the Babajanyan street reconstruction project, the road  surface will be completely changed, new sidewalks will be built. <I  would like to apologize to the residents living in the area for the  fact that we have caused them inconvenience for a long time, but at  the same time I want to point out that it cannot be otherwise when  building new roads in the urban environment. I am sure that when this  road is opened, everyone will be satisfied and the city will solve a  big problem," Hrachya Sargsyan stressed.

Sections of the Argavand-Shirak and Babajanyan-Ashtarak roads will  connect the administrative districts of Davidashen, Ajapnyak,  Malatia-Sebastia and Shengavit. The total length of the western ring  road of Yerevan will be 23 km. Its construction will significantly  relieve traffic in the capital.

It should be noted that the bypass road construction program is  financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) under the second part of  the "Investment Program for Sustainable Urban Development". In  February 2017, the Armenian Parliament ratified a loan agreement  signed on October 13, 2015 with the Asian Development Bank in the  amount of $112.97 million for the construction of bypass roads in  Yerevan, which will relieve traffic congestion in the center of the  capital.