Briefing will be held at the conference hall of Roads Department of Georgia to introduce information about “Development of Service and Rest Areas System for Transit Highways“ and make presentation of mentioned project. Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, Mr. David Tkeshelashvili and Chairman of Roads Department, Mr. Ramaz Nikolaishvili will attend the briefing; presentation will be made by Mr. George Tsagareli, Director of Eurasian Transport Corridor Investment Center. In the developed and some developing countries service and rest facilities form an integral part of the entire modern highway system. Their importance is related to several circumstances:
• Traffic safety requirements necessitated by the need of drivers to have a rest during the travel;
• Increasing demand of passengers and drivers on multifield services;
• Operation of container terminals for bus stations and heavy vehicles.
Besides, there is a demand for protected autoparks, fuel and service stations and a range of services such as: fast food, sanitary-prophylactic, ATM and telecommunication, tourist-informative and trading services.
The function of service and rest areas such as trading of rural products, souvenir and hand-made things and other goods of local production is also important.
E-60 Highway (together with the E-70) that passes through Georgia connects East and West parts of the country (Batumi-Poti-Tbilisi-Red Bridge), and in international road network is a corridor integrating Europe and Asia. Therefore, for the prospective development of Georgian main international-transportation function and highways of the country, it is planned to develop service and rest areas along the entire E-60 highway (together with the E-70), also border crossings and other important highways, which will facilitate to the development of country’s infrastructure.
It should be noted that the competition for the implementation of above mentioned project will be announced today regarding architectural planning solution. After a special study related to the rest and service areas, development of strategic plan and final outline, detailed schemes of the disposition and several standard projects will be determined.
