The Ashgabat–Turkmenabat Motorway () is a partially completed high-speed

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

that connects the country's capital,

Ashgabat Ashgabat (Turkmen language, Turkmen: ''Aşgabat'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies between the Karakum Desert and the Kopet Dag, Kopetdag mountain range in Central Asia, approximately 50 km (30 ...

, with the city of Turkmenabat. The total length of the motorway is 600 kilometers.

History

Closed joint-stock company Türkmenawtoban was established to construct the high-speed motorway

– Turkmenabat. The company is formed from entrepreneurial structures that are members of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan. VCE Vienna Consulting Engineers ZT GmbH (Austria) was contracted by Türkmenawtoban CJSC in 2019 to oversee the quality control of the Ashgabat–Turkmenabat motorway project. Construction of the motorway began on January 24, 2019, and is being implemented in three phases:

– Tejen (203 km), Tejen–

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

(109 km), and Mary– Turkmenabat (288 km). The total cost of the project is $2.4 billion USD. The first section of the motorway, Ashgabat–Tejen, spanning 203 kilometers, was opened for traffic in October 2021. The second section, Tejen–

, with a length of 109 kilometers, was inaugurated in April 2024. Motorway has achieved

ISO 9001 The ISO 9000 family is a set of international standards for quality management systems. It was developed in March 1987 by International Organization for Standardization. The goal of these standards is to help organizations ensure that they meet ...

certification. The final section, Mary–

Türkmenabat Türkmenabat (), formerly Amul, Cärjew/Chardzhou (until 1924 and from 1940-1999), and Novy Chardzhuy (from 1927-1940), is the second-largest city in Turkmenistan and the administrative centre of Lebap Province. , it had a population of approxima ...

(288 km), is planned to be completed in the coming years. Construction of the Ashgabat–Turkmenabat motorway is being managed by the Closed Joint Stock Company Türkmenawtoban. Subcontractors include individual enterprises such as Nusaýýollary and Hyzmat Merkezi, along with joint-stock companies Edermen and Altyn Nesil, which are responsible for various construction stages and the development of essential infrastructure along the motorway.

Description

The motorway consists of six traffic lanes and additional emergency lanes. The width of the road surface is 34.5 meters, with each side of the carriageway measuring 11.25 meters. The movement zones are 3.75 meters wide. Each direction includes an emergency lane, a ditch, and metal barriers to prevent animals and people from entering the motorway. The road surface is made of high-quality

asphalt Asphalt most often refers to: * Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete * Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...

concrete and modern materials, enhancing the strength and load-bearing capacity of the

. The road construction includes a 60 cm layer of stone covering, followed by layers of 20 cm each. Additionally, three layers of 22 cm asphalt were laid for the highway. Facilities such as

parking lot A parking lot or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface. In most jurisdi ...

s, rest areas,

shop Shop or shopping may refer to: Business and commerce * A casual word for a commercial establishment or for a place of business * Machine shop, a workshop for machining *"In the shop", referring to a car being at an automotive repair shop * Reta ...

cafe A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargil ...

fuel station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

s, and other infrastructure have been established along the motorway for the convenience of drivers and passengers. The highway infrastructure includes several

traffic police Traffic police (also known as traffic officers, traffic enforcement units, traffic cops, traffic monitors, or traffic enforcers) are units and Law enforcement agency, agencies who enforce Traffic#Rules of the road, traffic laws and Road traffic ...

posts equipped with surveillance cameras, technical maintenance stations, and road service facilities. A dedicated traffic management system collects data from surveillance cameras and meteorological stations and transmits it to road monitoring services. During construction, measures were taken to minimize environmental impact, including roadside landscaping and initiatives to protect local ecosystems. The motorway includes 69 structures, such as

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

s, and

overpass An overpass, called an overbridge or flyover (for a road only) in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries, is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that is over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and '' underpa ...

es. These include hydrotechnical facilities, wildlife tunnels, agricultural machinery crossings, and engineering communication systems. Special

telephone A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that enables two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most ...

stations are located along the road, connected to the control center for emergency calls and assistance.

Importance

The Ashgabat–Turkmenabat Motorway is one of the largest infrastructure projects in Turkmenistan. It provides access for automobile cargo flows to highways leading to the Asia-Pacific region and serves as a high-speed transport artery for the efficient and cost-effective transportation of goods over long distances.

References

External Links

Information on the construction of the motorway on the Türkmenawtoban CJSC website

Photos from the opening ceremony of the first section of the Ashgabat-Turkmenabat highway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashgabat-Turkmenabat Motorway Roads in Turkmenistan Central Asian highways

History

Description

Importance

See also

References

External Links