OREANDA-NEWS. On 08 July 2008 was announced, that a new road junction on the crossway of Republic av. and Barayev, Tashenov streets was opened in Astana.

Minister of Transport and Communication Serik Akhmetov and Astana akim (governor) Imangali Tasmagambetov participated in the opening ceremony.

According to S. Akhmetov, the whole roadway coverage is up to 4 kilometres long, the tunnel is 270 metres long and 22 metres wide. It consists of two underground crossings and one pedestrian crossing. The road capacity is nearly 50 000 vehicles a day. It was built for KZT 9 bln by a Turkish company, Kazinform reports.

Due to the development of Astana, we expect increase of the transport number. Therefore streets are being widened and new bridges and road junctions are being built, the Minister said. He noted that a new four line highway and a road junction on the crossway of Orynbor and Syganak streets have been opened recently. The ministry plans to widen other streets in Astana, implement automatic control systems and bring light-rail trams. About 50 objects of transport infrastructure will be built in Astana in the nearest future. According to the Minister, KZT 200 bln will be allotted from the republican budget for this.