Durrës-Kukës Highway
 | This article needs to be updated. (September 2011) |
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2011) |
| Albania-Kosovo Highway Rruga e kombit | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Route information | |
| Length | 272 km (169 mi) |
| Major junctions | |
| From | Albania |
| To | Kosovo[a] |
| Location | |
| Major cities | Tirana Durres Prizren Pristina |
The Albania-Kosovo Highway (also known as the Durres-Kukes Corridor in Albania, Vermice-Merdare Corridor and Ibrahim Rugova Highway in Kosovo[a], and Rruga e Kombit (Nation's Highway) in general) is a 4-lane highway being built between Albania and Kosovo. The highway starts at the port city of Durres in Albania and is planned to end at Merdare border crossing between Kosovo and Serbia.[citation needed] Eventually, once the Kosovan part of the project is finalized, the highway will link the Adriatic Sea port of Durres in Albania with the Pan-European corridor X.
Albanian part of the Highway
The four lane highway project is the biggest road infrastructure work ever done in the history of Albania. Its initial cost was estimated at €600m but during the course of construction this has more than doubled. The highway begins at the Albanian port of Durrës and ends at the border town of Morine, located on the Albanian side of the Albania and Kosovo border. The designated route corridor of the highway covers Durrës, Rreshen, Reps, Thirra, Kalimash, Kukes and Morine. It is 170 km (110 mi) long and consists of two lanes on each side. The corridor passes in order along the existing SH2, SH52, SH1, SH30, A1, SH30, and SH5 routes in Albania. Since 2007, some exisitng segments are undergoing reconstruction. The highway is expected to reduce the travel time from the current six hours to two, with an estimated speed of 80–110 km/h. A part of the highway, the segment between Rreshen (north-central Albania) and Kalimash (north-eastern Albania) was inaugurated on 26 June 2009 and numbered as A1. The project is scheduled to be completed by July 2010.[citation needed]
Project funding
In February 2010, the Government of Republic of Kosovo[a] announced the construction of the Kosovan part of the project. Known as the Morine-Merdare motorway, the road will run from Morine (Albania border) to the capital of Kosovo, Pristina. After completion, Kosovo will have simpler access to the Adriatic Sea through Durrës. [citation needed] The project is being financed by the governments of Albania, Kosovo, and some foreign lending institutions. The total cost of the highway is estimated to be over €1bn ($1.4bn).[citation needed]
Construction
The highway is expected to boost the tourism industry in Albania. As most tourists to Albania come through Kosovo or Macedonia, the laying of the highway will make it much easier to travel to the Durrës port and the Adriatic Sea. The most challenging part of the project was the road segment between Rreshen and Kalimash, which is around 61 km long. The segment is divided into three sections - a 19 km stretch from Rreshen to Reps, 27 km from Reps to Thirra and 15 km between Thirra and Kolshi. One tunnel and 27 bridges have been constructed through the steep and mountainous terrain. There are 17 bridges in the area from Reps to Thirra. Constructed by a joint venture of Bechtel-Enka, the cost of this part of the road increased tremendously by hundreds of millions of dollars. The use of a hydro-powered electricity grid instead of diesel generators has helped in reducing the carbon footprint of the project. As a result, CO2 emissions have dropped by 613,000 lb (278,000 kg) each month.
It is believed that construction work on the remaining segments in Albania (Fushe Kruje-Milot, and Kalimash-Morine) will be finished in 2011. The bridges along the latter segment will be upgraded in the near future while uncontrolled entry and exit points are becoming a major safety issue along the above unfinished road axes. [citation needed]
Tunnelling
The Rreshen - Kalimash segment's third section of road between Thirra and Kolshi included Mt. Runes at an elevation of 1,858m. Laying road on Mt. Runes proved to be a challenge for the engineers. It was decided that the best way of navigating through the mountain was to construct a tunnel through it. Another challenge was the transportation of construction equipment and material. As about 3,800 people worked on the project, there was the additional responsibility of feeding, clothing and housing them. The highway passes through a 5.5 km-long double-bore tunnel. Construction works on the tunnel began in May 2007 and were completed with one tunnel tube inaugurated in June 2009. The south-bound tunnel is scheduled to be completed in July 2010. All four faces of the two tubes of the tunnel have been worked on simultaneously. During tunnel construction, the tunnelling team encountered five classes of rock. A partial collapse occurred at a 50m section in the central-south bore of the tunnel in November 2009. No injuries or equipment damages were reported. The collapse occurred because of heavy overbreak (during excavation) at a geologically complex area inside the tunnel and has delayed the completion of the south-bound tunnel. Only the north-bound tunnel was opened as per schedule in June 2009. One year later the south-bound tunnel was opened as well.[citation needed]
Contractors
The contract for the construction of road segment between Rreshen and Kalimash, which constitutes more than one-third of the whole project, was awarded to a joint venture of Bechtel, a US-based engineering company, and Enka, a Turkey-based construction company. The contract was awarded in September 2006 and a majority of the construction works were completed in June 2009. Other contractors include local firms as well. The other part of the motorway in Kosovo is being constructed by Bechtel-Enka.
Kosovo part of the Highway
The building of the Kosovo side of the highway started in April 2010 with the Vërmicë-Merdare Corridor. It is 118 km long at a cost of 700 million euro/ $937 million. This highway will set the travel time from Pristina to Tirana to 3 hours.[1] Once the Pristina-Merdare section's project will be finalized, the motorway will link Kosovo, with the Pan-European corridor X.
Impact
Since the end of the Kosovo War of 1999, hundreds of thousands of Albanians have passed through the poor old mountain road to get to Albania's beaches.[2] Building a highway would "crystallize a year-round tourism industry and double the size of the Albanian market", while allowing both communities to rationalize agriculture.[2] Travel times are expected to be lowered to two and a half hours or less, down from seven.[2]
Once finalized, the project will link the Adriatic Sea with the Pan-European corridor X at the E80 near the town of Merdar between the contested Kosovo-Serbia border.[citation needed]
US Congressman Eliot Engel has compared Sali Berisha's vision to build this highway to that of Eisenhower to build highways across the United States.[3]
See also
Notes and references
Notes:
| a. | ^ Template:Kosovo-note |
References:
- ^ KosPress (2010-06-08). ""Rruga e Kombit" filloj edhe në Kosovë" (in Albanian). KosPress.
- ^ a b c Benet Koleka (2007). "Highway set to bring Albania and Kosovo closer". Reuters. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ "Engel: Berisha si Auzenhaur, nderton sistem autostradash ([[Albanian language|Albanian]]: Berisha like Eisenhower, builds a highway system[[Category:Articles containing Albanian-language text]])". Koha Jone Magazine. 2010-06-07.
{{cite news}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)