Hayk Marutyan Visits Construction Site of New Road Section

Construction works are in full swing in the western section of the Yerevan ring road, despite the winter season. The Argavand-Shirak road will have a length of 2.7 km, with 4-6 traffic lanes that will be on average 24-28 meters wide. It will connect the Malatya-Sebastia and Shengavit administrative districts. Yerevan Mayor Hayk Marutyan visited the site during a working trip to familiarize himself with the progress of the project.

“This is one of our most important projects, which aims to relieve the city of traffic congestion and provide alternative routes to access different parts of the city. Considering the number of transportation vehicles that have been imported in the last two years, this is more than a necessity; it has become a vital issue for Yerevan,” noted the mayor.

Construction began at the end of last year, funded by the Asian Development Bank's tranche 2 of the Urban Sustainable Development Investment Program. To alleviate traffic flows in the capital, the municipality is considering various programs and projects. As a key step, Mayor Marutyan also sees the implementation of a new transportation network as crucial.

“Relieving the city of congestion is currently an issue faced by all major cities, and Yerevan is no exception. The solution does not end with road construction; the measures need to be comprehensive. For me, and globally, the transportation network is at the core of all these solutions. Therefore, we must find specific and rapid solutions to our new transportation network issue alongside the road construction. We are doing everything possible to complete both processes in parallel,” emphasized Hayk Marutyan.

The Argavand-Shirak road section also includes a 252-meter long and 28-meter wide metal bridge over the Hrazdan River, as well as a transit lane at the intersection of Isakov Avenue and Babajanyan Street. Currently, builders are constructing the bridge's foundations. Notably, the new bridge will have a special station for rainwater purification, which will allow for the filtration of rainwater before it is discharged into the river.

During the project, all necessary communications will be relocated, and energy-saving LED lights will be installed in the lighting system. Luis López Molon, the authorized representative of the Spanish company Levantina Ingenieria Constructión, assures that the works will be completed on time. The construction will take 21 months.

The road extending towards Argavand will then connect with the Babajanyan-Ashtarak road section. This section of the road is planned to be 9.4 km long, with 4-6 traffic lanes averaging 24 meters wide. The Babajanyan-Ashtarak road section is expected to be operational by 2020.

Overall, the western ring road of Yerevan will have a length of 23 km and will connect the northern and southern entrances of the capital.