After about 14 years of construction, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most important infrastructure projects – a 670-kilometer road between Moscow and St. Petersburg – has now opened.
Putin opened the final section of the highway – a bypass around the provincial city of Tver – with a Russian Lada Aura.
The last section to be built includes a 738-metre-long bridge over the upper Volga.
Plans to relieve the old route between Russia’s major cities go back a long way. The route passed through many villages and was only partially developed as a highway. Putin ordered the construction of the new highway in 2004, and construction of the first section began in 2010.
But it’s not free.
Drivers must pay tolls almost everywhere on the new M-11 highway. The most expensive is the first section from Moscow to Sheremetyevo Airport and beyond, which costs 795 rubles ($9).
Depending on the day and the fare, the entire trip can cost more than 3,000 rubles.
While in Tver, Putin also opened a second major new route, state news agency TASS reported: the highway around the city of Tolyatti with a 3.7-kilometer-long bridge over the Volga at its lower reaches.
