Over 7000 Meters Dug: Georgian Project to Shorten Road to Lars

A report has been presented in Georgia on the progress of the construction of one of the longest tunnels in the region and the sixth largest in the world.  According to the Department of Roads of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, 6,760 meters of the 9-kilometer tunnel located in the Khevi Pass have already been excavated.

This concerns the tunnel in the Khevi Pass, part of a bypass road for the most dangerous section of the Mtskheta-Stepantsminda-Lars route (Gudauri-Kobi). It is noted that 3,820 meters of the evacuation tunnel have already been excavated. The tunnel, with a diameter of 15 meters, will allow traffic in two directions, with three lanes. There will be emergency exits every 500 meters.

The project plans to build a two-layer concrete road 23 kilometers long, five bridges, five tunnels, and also carry out renovation works on one bridge. The length of the existing road is 34 kilometers, and the tunnel will reduce this by 11 kilometers. This will also ensure uninterrupted traffic through the most dangerous section. Currently, the journey takes over an hour, but after the completion of the project, it will only take 15 minutes.

As a result, the travel time from Tbilisi to Stepantsminda (on the border with Russia) will be reduced from 2 hours and 30 minutes to 1 hour and 45 minutes. The total cost of the project is 1.2 billion lari. It is worth noting that the project was supposed to be completed in 2022, but the deadline was changed due to the pandemic. Authorities in Tbilisi insist that the project will be completed in 2024.