Georgia: A road that will be very important for the Kakheti population and the development of our country’s international transport corridors was opened on August 2, 2024.
The Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure, Irakli Karseladze, congratulated the citizens on opening the most critical project—Bakurtsikhe-Tsnori’s 18-kilometer 2-lane highway. He stated, “Construction of a new road was critically necessary. Delays caused trucks to drive between the rural fences and road safety standards were not met.”
He also mentioned, “Bakurtsikhe-Tsnori’s new road bypasses the densely populated city of Tsnori and six nearby villages: Bakurtsikha, Kardenakh, Anaga, Vakir, Mashnaar and Saqobo. The new highway will completely relax the traffic in the settlements and increase the traffic by 2.5 times, and if it were possible to travel on the old highway in 30-40 minutes, the new road section would take only 10 minutes. When we are talking about the development of Kakheti highway, it is essential to note the high pace of the works, which are being carried out on the 35 km section of the Tbilisi-Sagarejo 4-lane highway, from which the first 4 km section of the road was opened last year. The following 32 km sections are in the final phase, and the traffic will be opened this year. Also, next year, the 17 km section of Sagarejo-Badiauri will be opened, on the 52 km most critical section of Kakheti road direction, motor transport will move in a new way.”
“Since 2021, we are already using the Gurjaani bypass; 35.3 km stretch of Gurjaani road to Telavi will be built, 40 km stretch to Lagodekha, and under these conditions, we will go to Kakheti highway from Tbilisi to Telavi in only 1 hour and 20 minutes ” the Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure Irakli Karseladze about the opening of Kakheti highway, said during his speech at the event.
Bakurtsikhe-Tsnori’s road is a constituent part of the international highway route – Tbilisi-Bakurtsikhe-Lagodekhi-Azerbaijan border
According to the Minister, a complete rehabilitation of the old road in Tsnori and six settlements must be planned, which will significantly improve the population’s living conditions.
Irakli Karseladze stressed that the growing trend in relation to traffic flows is also very important. According to the analysis of road intensity, transit traffic on the international-important Tbilisi-Bakurtsikhe-Lagodekhi highway increased by 135% in 2023 compared to 2019, i.e., before the pandemic, and the growing trend remained since 2022.
Therefore, a new highway was critically necessary. Overall, a new 85-km highway to Bakurtsikhe is planned.
While discussing the development of Kakheti’s road infrastructure, the Minister emphasized the importance of rehabilitating the 30 km section of Tianeti-Akhmeta, which connects the two regions. The journey would be possible in 20 minutes instead of 2 hours.
Also, 67 km of Gumbati-Khirsa-Enamta-Sabatlo-Samtatskaro road, 11 km of Chumlaki-Alaverdi road, and 34 km of Gombori road will be rehabilitated. According to him, improving road safety is also very important, which is going 52 km from the 65 km rehabilitation section of Tusheti road.
Throughout Kakheti, projects worth more than 1 billion GEL are underway to develop road infrastructure.
At the end of his speech, the Minister thanked the public, the Department of Roads, construction and supervision companies, and the International Partner—the Asian Development Bank—and noted that their support was critical in Georgia’s infrastructure development.
