Iran’s first bypass expressway with a speed limit of 130 km/h and connecting Abyek in Qazvin Province to Charmshahr along Qom-Garmsar Highway is under construction.
According to Roads and Urban Development Minister Abbas Akhoundi, the project has made 45% progress, IRNA reported.
“The 158-kilometer bypass expressway project connects the highways of Tehran-Saveh, Tehran-Qom and Qom-Garmsar to each other on its way,” he said.
The construction of this project, the official said, started in the fiscal 2016-17 and plans are for it to become operational next year (March 2019-20)
When complete, the expressway running around Tehran's southwest will reduce the travel time for light and heavy vehicles by 90 minutes and 110 minutes respectively. Moreover, 700 million liters of gasoline and 1,600 million liters of diesel will be saved over 20 years.
According to Akhoundi, the project will cost around 26 trillion rials (around $619.04 million).
“The government has a 30% share (in paying the cost), as 70% are provided by Khatam al-Anbiya Construction Headquarters,” he said.
Khatam al-Anbiya is an engineering conglomerate and the largest industrial contractor in Iran affiliated to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps. Established during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s to help rebuild the country, it has over the years diversified into mechanical, engineering, energy, mining and defense sectors. It is also intimately connected to Iran’s oil and gas industry.
Akhoundi noted that at present, around 2,700 workers and 1,300 heavy machinery are busy at the expressway's construction site.
“The latest technology is being used in the construction of this project, the contractors of which are all Iranian. This expressway will provide access to Imam Khomeini Airport,” he said.
Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development Kheirollah Khademi said the southern Tehran bypass expressway is part of Iran’s East-West Corridor connecting Mashhad in the northeast to Tabriz in the country's northwest.
“The expressway, which connects the provinces of Tehran, Alborz, Markazi and Qazvin, will play a significant role in reducing the capital’s heavy traffic problem," he was quoted as saying by the news portal of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development.
Khademi added that the project has been defined in four sections:
* Section-1 is 39 km long and connects Abyek in Qazvin Province to Eshtehard-Mahdasht Road in Alborz Province and has made 32% progress.
* The 51-kilometer Section-2 connects Eshtehard-Mahdasht Road to Saveh Highway in Markazi Province and has made 42% progress.
* Section-3, having made 28% progress, stretches further from Saveh Highway to Tehran-Qom Highway and is 30 km long.
* The fourth and final section is 38 kilometers long, from Tehran-Qom Highway to Qom-Garmsar Highway and has made 86% progress.
The project, said the official, will come on stream when all the sections have been completed.
