8 november 2011

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, currently in Novosibirsk on a working visit, attended the opening of the Northern bypass motorway

The prime minister started with an aerial inspection of the Northern bypass. After landing, he listened to a report on the motorway's construction and spoke to the builders. "Let me congratulate you on completing this work, and thank you for the high quality results. It may not look huge on the scale of the entire country, but it is very important for the region," the prime minister said and noted that the construction was finished one year ahead of schedule with 300 million roubles saved.

Further, Putin listened to a project review of another motorway, the Eastern bypass that would interchange with the Chuisky Trakt motorway. According to Transport Minister Igor Levitin, the project could be built within five years if approved.

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Construction of the Northern bypass started in 1999. The road is important to Siberia and the entire country as it is part of the transcontinental motorway linking the western and the eastern regions. The new motorway is also supposed to improve the local traffic and environment in Novosibirsk.

The 76.4-kilometre highway includes ten interchanges, 14 overpasses and 11 bridges. It was constructed in two stages. The first stage of 50 kilometres, which includes a bridge over the Ob River, was launched in 2008. The second stage of the remaining 26.4 kilometres was started in July 2009.