OREANDA-NEWS. October 04, 2010. The celebrations to mark the opening of new transport infrastructure facilities were held throughout the country. 90 highway bridges, which became a big present made by Turkmen bridge builders for the 19th anniversary of independence, were put into operation on the major thoroughfares in Turkmenistan, the highways under construction including Ashgabat-Turkmenbashi, Ashgabat-Mary, Turkmenabat-Farab, Ashgabat-Karakum-Dashoguz.

In Ahal Velayat the venue for the festivities was bridge 33 in Yashildepe settlement near Yashlyk village, in Mary Velayat – bridge 44 in the vicinity of the Hauzhan man-made lake, in Balkan and Lebap Velayats – the bridge stream crossings built in the administrative centres of the regions. In Dashoguz the big celebrations were arranged nearby the bridge crossing across the northern supply canal to the Turkmen Lake.

A festive atmosphere reigned in all regions of the country from the early morning, music and songs were heard on squares and in parks, workers of culture and art presented colourful and bright performances glorifying the independent Motherland and grandiose achievements of the epoch of new Revival.

Local high-ranking officials, specialists of velayat and etrap khyakimliks, builders of new transport facilities, the elders and people from neighbouring settlements participated in the opening ceremonies.

Caravans of camels were the first to step on newly built bridges as if symbolizing the new birth of the Great Silk Road. Vehicles followed them. Soon, the traffic stream will rush along highway bridges because freight and passenger traffic grows in the country with every passing year, as the national economy is advanced.

This event became a landmark step to develop and modernize transport infrastructure in the country. In fact, the construction of about a hundred of bridges will enable to connect all regions of Turkmenistan with the wide asphalt ribbon of renewed supermodern highways.

New transport infrastructure facilities meet international road speed and road safety requirements set to the first category roads.

The traffic way width is 12.5 metres in each direction; it is fenced with special metal barrier elements. Bridges have pedestrian crossings and lighting systems that will make road traffic safe and comfortable at any time of day.

New bridges are designed for many decades of trouble-free operation. They are built across large and small rivers, streams flowing from the slopes of the Kopetdag Mountains and the Balhan range, irrigation canals and manifolds, railroad lines.

Some of these bridges are quite long including those built in the Karakum Desert, where there have been no water barriers until recently, across the tributaries of the Turkmen Lake – the Main Turkmen Collector and the Dashoguz inlet channel. For the large size bridges laid across these man-made rivers are made from dead-hard reinforced concrete because of sandy ground typical of these areas.

It should be noted that along with the type designs of bridges, architects applied actively latest engineering solutions. A number of unique constructions including laced suspension bridges and bridge crossings made from fabricated metals and light and high-strength alloys built across the waterways in the oasis zone. The largest of these facilities is the 225-metre cable-stayed bridge, which connects the banks of the Karakum Derya in Tejen Etrap.

The grandiose project for the construction of about 90 bridge crossings on major highways connecting all the regions of Turkmenistan is worth over USD 287 million. This is one of the striking illustrations in what measure large-scale investments are allocated for the development of transport infrastructure. Putting transport facilities into operation is a new step to fulfil the strategic task set to the transport sector in the context of wide-ranging reforms.

Supermodern traffic arteries ensuring rapid and cost-effective conveyance of goods and passengers in all directions is an essential condition for sustained development of the country, especially its regions. Therefore, in the near future the elements traditionally typical of thoroughfares of this type and category all over the world will become the attributes of roads throughout Turkmenistan. These include multi-level interchanges, flyovers, traffic safety and lighting systems, high-tech information boards and a network of fuel stations, emergency repair service stations, cafeterias, roadhouses offering a wide range of services meeting international standards.

In the epoch of new Revival and fundamental reforms a number of large-scale transport projects have been implemented. A powerful impetus to develop rich deposits on the right banks of the Amu Darya River was given by the construction of the Atamurat-Kerkichi railway bridge across the largest water artery of the region – impetuous Jeyhun.

The supermodern international airport in Turkmenbashi town put into operation this year is to be the air gateway to the Avaza national tourism zone as well as one of the air traffic centres in the region which lies on major routes, including those of foreign airlines.

The implementation of the grandiose project imposing in conception for the construction of the North-South transport corridor, the new transnational steel line that will connect Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran ad be the shortest route for transit of goods from Europe to Asia.

In this regard, the ultra-modern highways under construction, on which 90 bridges were built, are an important link of the modern Silk Road that will connect again the north and south, east and west through the territory of our country. Thus, the implementation of the potential based on the extremely favourable geographical position of Turkmenistan on important trade routes of the continent is under way in the framework of large-scale reforms initiated by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.