M12 toll highway to become toll-free after Tatarstan

55,5 km to be built, 739 km of roads to be repaired

Spring is the traditional time for starting road repairs and construction: deputy head of the executive committee Igor Kulyazhev reported on the upcoming works in Kazan at Business Monday on 26 April. Deputy Minister of Transport and Road Management of Tatarstan Artem Chukin spoke about the programme on a regional scale. This year, 37,6 billion rubles have been allocated for road works in the republic. These funds will be used to build 55,5 km of roads and to repair 739,2 km. In particular, it is planned:

• construction and reconstruction of 53 objects with a total length of 55,5 km, including 7 bridges, of which 6 will be put into operation this year (over 5 billion rubles have been allocated);
• major repairs and repairs of 281 objects with a total length of 145,4 km, including 5 bridges, this year it is planned to introduce 2 bridges with a total length of 149,47 linear metres (over 11 billion rubles have been allocated);
• patch work of about 900,000 square metres of road surface. At the moment, more than 98,500 square metres of roadbed have been repaired.

More than 5 billion rubles have been allocated for the maintenance of regional highways and for project design works. Also this year, it is planned to implement three main social programmes for the repair of the road and street network:

• 135 km of roads will be repaired for the construction of crushed stone sand pavement in rural settlements. The funding is 1 billion rubles from the republican budget;
• it is planned to repair 88 km of the existing asphalt — concrete road surface of the settlements. One billion rubles has been allocated from the republican budget;
• repair of the road and street network of settlements — with a total length of more than 110 km. The funding is 1,186,6 million rubles from the municipal road fund.

It is also planned to equip access roads to 30 farms located in 17 municipal districts, and to repair 21 access roads to garden societies located in 12 municipal districts, including in Kazan and Naberezhnye Chelny.

This year, the implementation of the republican programme 'Our Yard' will continue. The works are planned on 1,074 objects.

After repair, standard condition of regional roads will reach 48,2%

The Republic of Tatarstan participates in the implementation of the national project 'Safe Quality Roads'. It was launched in 2017 as a federal priority project, and expanded to a national project in 2019. Within the framework of this project, more than 12,1 billion rubles will be spent, including more than 9,1 billion rubles from the federal budget, and more than 3 billion rubles from the republican budget. In the current year, it is planned:

• repair of 96,7 km of regional roads, which will ensure the achievement of 48,2% of the standard condition. The funding is 1 billion rubles from the republican budget;
• repair of 61,6 km of roads of the Kazan agglomeration, which will ensure the achievement of 84,5% of the standard condition, including 13,5 km of Kazan streets, 48,2 km of regional roads. Funding — 9,16 billion rubles, including 8,16 billion rubles — from federal budget, 1 billion rubles — from republican budget;
• repair of 48,4 km of roads of the Naberezhnye Chelny agglomeration, which will ensure the achievement of 81% of the standard condition, including 1,4 km — the streets of Naberezhnye Chelny, 47 km — regional roads. Funding — 1,15 billion rubles, including 470,5 million rubles — from federal budget, 680 million rubles — from republican budget;
• repair of 11,1 km of roads in the Nizhnekamsk agglomeration, which will ensure 74,4% of the standard condition. Funding — 531,7 million rubles, including 483,7 million rubles — from federal budget, 48 million rubles — from republican budget.

Federal funding will continue the construction of the highway from Nesmelova Street to M7 'Volga' through the residential complex Serebryany Bor in the Kirovsky district of Kazan, the reconstruction of the Kazan-Shemordan highway on a section from 16,2 km to 21,977 km in the Pestrechinsky district, the construction of the Great Kazan Ring.

The works have already begun on four city facilities and 10 regional ones. In particular, there is a restoration of worn-out layers on the sections of roads: Alekseevskoye-Vysoky Kolok in the Alekseevsky and Alkeevsky districts, 'Entrance to the city of Yelabuga' and Yelabuga-Gari-Abalach in the Yelabuga district, Lubyany-Bazhenikha in the Kukmor district, M7 Volga — Bizyaki in the Menzelinsky district, Bazarnye Mataki-Mamykovo in the Nurlatsky district, Kim-Kuznechikha-Lesnaya Khmelevka and Bazarnye Mataki-Bolgar in the Spassky district.

43 dangerous zones to be eliminated

The deputy minister said that according to the national project, it is also necessary to carry out measures to improve road safety in all areas of the concentration of road accidents and in potentially dangerous places. Forty-three such sections have been identified on regional roads, and they must be eliminated by July 1.

It is also planned to build sidewalks on seven sections of highways for a total of 73,2 million rubles, arrange artificial lighting on 50 sections passing through settlements in 31 districts of the republic, install metal fencing on the dividing strip of the Naberezhnye Chelny-Zainsk-Almetyevsk highway, and install 132 speed bumps on the territory of 34 districts.

Municipal road funds will be used to finance measures to improve road safety on the routes of children “home-school-home” and in emergency areas (arrangement of artificial bumps, installation of road signs, installation of safety fences and lighting). The works must be completed by September 1, 2021.

Chukin noted that new technologies and materials will be used at 86 sites, in particular asphalt concrete coverings using the method of volumetric design. This will be 88% of the total with a plan of 10%. It is also planned to use porous-mastic asphalt concrete, various additives in asphalt concrete, processed and modified local mineral materials, composite materials, modern waterproofing systems, etc.

Tatarstan needs to build 180 km for M12

At the briefing, it became known how the M12 highway, which President Putin instructed to stretch to Yekaterinburg, will pass. The most important thing is that the added section of the road is not planned to be toll yet. Only the section from Moscow to the Shali-Bavly road that is currently under construction will be toll.

“First of all, the corridor will continue along the existing M7 Volga highway of the first technical category. The conversation about the transfer of the M7 Volga highway to a toll basis is not raised today, and the question that these sections will become toll-free is not discussed. In the future, the corridor of the existing M7 road in the area of 1166 km, not reaching the border of Tatarstan, will go higher, towards Yekaterinburg. That is, it will already be a section of new construction, and the rest of the route will go along the existing corridor," Chukin said.

The deputy minister explained that the section of M7 Volga outside Naberezhnye Chelny (from the settlement of Sosnovy Bor), which is now a road of the third technical category, will expand to four lanes. The route of the new road will include a bypass of Naberezhnye Chelny and Nizhnekamsk with a bridge crossing over the Kama River. The president of the Republic of Tatarstan discussed this issue with a delegation of Rosavtodor that came to Kazan.

Valery Timashov, chief engineer of the Federal Highway Administration of the Volga-Vyatka Region of the Federal Road Agency, added that the M12 will cross Tatarstan on five federal roads, including Tsivilsk-Ulyanovsk, Kazan-Buinsk-Ulyanovsk, Kazan-Orenburg, and Sorochy Gory-Shali.

“The Sorochyi Gory-Shali road, which is under the jurisdiction of Glavtatdortrans, will be transferred to federal ownership in the future. The issue will be resolved in 2021. These 40 km will be reconstructed and transferred to the category 1B. And at the 856th km, there will be an exit to the M7. From the 856th to the 971st — this is the Mamadysh district — a road of the first technical category, and from the 971st km — with the participation of top officials persons, the issue of bypassing was discussed. The 88,9 km section is divided into three stages. To date, we are preparing a package of documents for examination. After the bypass, the road goes to the 1071st km of the federal highway M7, and from that moment to the border with Bashkiria (1,166 km), the task came from Rosavtodor to work it into the category 1B.

Then the M12 highway enters the territory of Bashkiria and then goes to Yekaterinburg. As part of the construction of this highway, Tatarstan will have to build a 90-kilometre bypass in the area of Naberezhnye Chelny and reconstruct 90 km of the roadbed to the border with Bashkiria.