Marat Khusnullin: ‘Kazan is the largest trade and transport hub of the country’
The two-year reconstruction of the Gorky Highway has been completed in the city
“There have never been such volumes and such solutions in the history of Tatarstan," Rustam Minnikhanov, the president of the Republic of Tatarstan, commented on the opening of the renovated Gorky Highway worth 27 billion rubles. Its reconstruction began back in 2022, and today traffic officially started along the road. Along with the Gorky Highway in Tatarstan, two more facilities were solemnly opened — the Bolshoy Zelenodolsk road and the M7 Volga section Moscow-Vladimir-Nizhny Novgorod-Kazan-Ufa. Read how these events will affect the infrastructure of the republic in the Realnoe Vremya report.
“Another crucial step”
More than two years after the start of reconstruction, the renovated Gorky Highway was inaugurated in Kazan. Together with it, traffic has been launched along the Bolshoy Zelenodolsk road and the M7 Volga section Moscow-Vladimir-Nizhny Novgorod-Kazan-Ufa.
“Historically, Kazan and Tatarstan have always been and continue to be the largest trade and transport hub of our country. This has been the case for a long time. And today we are making another contribution to the development of our country, the development of this most powerful transport hub," said Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Marat Khusnullin.
He added that Kazan continues to develop its transport infrastructure, which has brought the city and Tatarstan as a whole to record levels:
“This is another important step in the development of the Kazan agglomeration. I would like to note that in Kazan the indicator set by the president of our country, Vladimir Putin, within the framework of the Safe High-Quality Roads national project has already been exceeded, 85% of the road network here is in a standard condition (the average in Russia is 54% — editor's note). In the republic, regional roads in standard condition also exceeded the target of 50%, today their share is 52%.
The reconstruction of the Gorky Highway has become a new solution for the city, according to Rustam Minnikhanov, the rais of Tatarstan. Such projects have not yet been implemented in the republic:
“There have never been such volumes and such solutions in the history of Tatarstan. And, of course, thanks to the federal programme and the support of the country's leadership, we are implementing strategic projects. Gorky Highway is a very serious, very necessary facility.
Speaking about the important results of the reconstruction of the Gorky highway, it is worth noting a twofold increase in capacity and increased road safety. To do this, additional lanes were made at the facility and all ground pedestrian crossings were eliminated.
“A landmark day for Tatarstan”
Together with the Gorky Highway, a section of the M7 Volga highway Moscow-Vladimir-Nizhny Novgorod-Kazan-Ufa (km 761+500 — km 771+246) was opened on 12 December.
“The reconstruction of the M7 Volga will provide reliable transport links, contribute to the stable growth of industrial production and agriculture in the republic, and reduce road accidents on the site by separating oncoming traffic," said Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit.
The need for reconstruction was due to the increased traffic intensity — the site is located 3.5 km from the city of Innopolis. To prevent congestion, the number of lanes has been increased from two to four.
Three layers of asphalt concrete with a total thickness of 20 cm were also laid on the site. This will ensure the normative strength of the pavement under specific load conditions — more than 35 thousand cars per day.
“Today is a landmark day for Tatarstan, for the transport block of Russia," said Starovoit. “The reconstruction of the Gorky Highway in conjunction with the construction of a new section at the intersection of the federal roads M7 Volga and A295 Yoshkar-Ola — Zelenodolsk will relieve the street and road network of the Kazan agglomeration and create a high-quality outbound highway.”