27-km-long, 4-lane section of Rikoti Pass Road, which is part of the East-West (E60) International Highway, will be opened for traffic today.

The new 27-km, 4-lane section of the Rikoti highway starts from Khevi village in Kharagauli municipality and ends at Shorapani borough in Zestaponi municipality. Khevi-Shorapani section includes 65 bridges and 38 tunnels.

The new section reduces the distance by 8 km and the travel time by 25 minutes. Furthermore, the longest bridge in Georgia, 1362 meters long, and the longest tunnel, 1640 meters long, are located at Khevi-Shorapani section.

The new road complies with all modern road safety standards, including the outdoor lighting system.

Compared to other ongoing infrastructure projects in Georgia, the Rikoti highway construction project is exceptional since it is being carried out on challenging terrain and involves large-scale engineering solutions. In total, 51 tunnels and 97 bridges are being constructed under the Rikoti project. Thus far, 48 tunnels have already been cut and 83 bridges have been built. Construction work is ongoing simultaneously on all remaining bridges and tunnels.

The construction of Rikoti Pass section is split into 4 sections: Chumateleti-Khevi, Khevi-Ubisa, Ubisa-Shorapani, and Shorapani-Argveta sections.

The construction is being carried out with the support of international financial institutions: the European Investment Bank (EIB), the World Bank (WB), and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The total cost of construction work is up to 2.6 billion GEL, and the project is expected to be completed in 2024.

Special spaces, the so-called trade areas, will be arranged under the project close to Surami, Shrosha, and Zestaponi, where the locals will be able to sell their products under the conditions of proper infrastructure and road safety.

Well-known American, Italian, Turkish and Georgian companies worked on the design of the Rikoti highway. In total, 140 specialists participated in the designing of the Rikoti highway, out of which 84 specialists were locals. The design team included tunnel, bridge, and highway engineers, geologists, geotechnical engineers, environmental protection specialists, road safety specialists and specialists from other fields.

The construction works are executed by 4 different Chinese companies that won the open tender conducted under the procedures of International Financial Institutions. The construction works are supervised by international supervision companies from France, Turkey, Australia and Korea with several decades of experience. 146 experienced specialists, including 99 local and 47 international experts are involved in the supervision of the Rikoti section.

More than 10,000 people were employed for the Rikoti highway's construction, out of which more than 70% are Georgian citizens.

The development of the East-West International Highway (E60) helps to strengthen the competitiveness of the Georgian transport corridor. The capacity of the highway and transit cargo turnover will be increased, the quality of road traffic safety will be improved and the travel time will be reduced.

Traffic is already free for vehicles on 60% (261 km) of the East-West highway. Construction works are in progress on 81 km of the main road.