Turkmenistan’s first high-speed highway to open in 2020

ASHGABAT (TCA) — The first high-speed highway in Turkmenistan, connecting the capital Ashgabat and the Caspian port city Turkmenbashi, will be opened in September 2020, Newspaper Golden Age reports citing the Ministry of Automobile Transport of Turkmenistan.

The Ashgabat–Turkmenbashi highway is being built by the Turkish company Polimeks Insaat Taahhut we Sanayi Ticaret A.S. The company will build a railway bridge and cloverleaf junction at the 24th kilometer of Ashgabat–Dashoguz section of the new highway.

The future road is designated exclusively for high-speed traffic. Around 60 large and small multi-level flyovers and more than 70 underpasses, and bridges across mud streams and Karakum River will be built along the road.

This is the first project of its kind in Turkmenistan. The three-lane highway will be 34.5 meters wide. Each side of the road will have an emergency lane, a ditch and a metal fence to prevent animals and people entering the road.

The entire highway will be built according to world standards. The entry and exit of the highway will be equipped with toll points. Smaller toll points will be placed on the highway entry from other cities along the way. There also will be traffic police stations equipped with surveillance cameras.

Every 50 km of each side of the motorway will have a car parking and recreation zones for drivers and passengers. Large recreation centers with shops, restaurants, motels, covered and open parking lots, fuel stations, and other facilities will be built at the 201st and 420th kilometers of the highway.

Monitors informing motorists on weather, road conditions and speed limits will be installed along the road. There will be telephone booths every two kilometers for calling evacuation trucks, traffic police and road maintenance services.

The construction of Ashgabat– Turkmenbashi highway will give an opportunity to improve the quality of logistic services, expand international transit and transport infrastructure, increase trade turnover with neighboring countries, the export and transit of goods via the Turkmenbashi International Seaport.

Sergey Kwan

TCA

Sergey Kwan has worked for The Times of Central Asia as a journalist, translator and editor since its foundation in March 1999. Prior to this, from 1996-1997, he worked as a translator at The Kyrgyzstan Chronicle, and from 1997-1999, as a translator at The Central Asian Post.
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Kwan studied at the Bishkek Polytechnic Institute from 1990-1994, before completing his training in print journalism in Denmark.

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