Farmers Set Up Post on EjeMIatsin-Margara Highway's Collapsing Bridge, Threatening to Close the Road

In the Armavir region, an emergency situation was created today, August 17, shortly after midnight. SHAMSHYAN.com reports that residents of several villages threatened to block the inter-state road connecting Margara-Vanadzor-Tashir to the Georgian border at the Jrarbi village section, as it has become completely dangerous due to a huge hole that has formed on the bridge.

The residents parked their vehicles in various sections of the bridge, using them as a protective shield. They demanded that officials from the Armavir regional administration or the responsible authorities of the road service come to the location and respond to when the long-overdue “Deadly Sand Bridge” will be renovated. “Every time they promise that the issue will be resolved, but everyone’s words vanish into thin air. Our hope was on the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Suren Papikyan, but he went on vacation. We are left to wait to see when the authorities will be kind enough to leave their positions and solve the problem. We are forced to resort to this extreme measure of blocking the road. We have been on duty for 2 nights to prevent people from getting into accidents. Probably, those responsible are waiting for another accident, including a tragic one, to come and see that wreaths symbolizing death have been placed along the bridge,” they stated.

The website reports that a representative from the road service arrived at the scene, stating that he had no prior information about the condition of the bridge, but promised that necessary work would be carried out to renovate it. The governor of the region, Hambardzum Matevosyan, was also present on the scene, and at his urging, the citizens opened the road.

SHAMSHYAN.com previously reported that regarding this issue, the Armavir regional administration clarified that the bridges in the Vardanashen and Jrarbi communities are located on the M-3 inter-state road “Republic of Turkey Border-Margara-Vanadzor-Tashir-Georgian Border.” The Vardanashen bridge was partially renovated in 2012. At the request of the Armavir regional governor, a 9 km section of the road (from 1+000 km to 9+000 km) where these bridges are located has been included in the road renovation program of 2020 and is currently in the design phase.