Georgia intends to reduce travel time from Red Bridge to Turkish border by half

The Georgia Department of Transportation, Chinese Guizhou Highway Engineering Group, which won the tender, and China National Technical, Import and Export Corporation have signed a contract. The document envisages the construction of the most challenging part of the Georgian part of the E-60 East-West Europe transport corridor, which connects the city of Brest in France with Central Asia, Report says, citing the Department’s website.

The E-60 part of the corridor passes through Rikotsky ridge and a part of the Shorapani-Argveti highway. A four-lane cement-concrete road, 14 bridges and 12 tunnels are to be built in the most challenging part, stretching up to 14.7 km.

The E-60 part of Georgia, which is 392 km in length, starts from the Poti port in the Black Sea and ends on the border with Azerbaijan. The second biggest transport corridor in Europe ends in the city of Erkeshtam in Kyrgyzstan.

The plan provides for the construction of 51.6 km of road on the Rikotsky ridge to reduce the travel period from Red Bridge to Sarpi village on the border with Turkey by two times. Currently, this road takes eight hours.

Road construction is to be completed in 2022.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) finances the project.