The modern Irkutsk bypass highway will be completed by 2010.

ZAO Trud continues building the Irkutsk bypass on the M 53 Baikal highway, where by 2010 a modern second category road with two grade separated interchanges should appear. Now large scale drilling blasting and earthworks are underway, with hundreds of specialists, heavy machinery and two asphalt concrete plants involved. Of special interest are the difficult terrain of the future route and the construction of two bridges, including a 300 meter crossing over the Irkut.

ZAO “Trud” continues construction of the M-53 “Baikal” highway on the Irkutsk bypass section. As a result of the project’s implementation, by 2010 a modern second-category highway with two grade-separated interchanges is to be built.
As reported by the public relations and media department of ZAO “Trud,” blasting operations are now in full swing. Until July, powerful explosions will be carried out every 7-10 days. The volumes of blasting work will amount to 150,000 cubic meters, and earthworks to 4 million cubic meters. By comparison, during the construction of the Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Station, the volume was 5.5 million cubic meters. More than 500 people are working at the site, with 12 excavator units, two modern asphalt concrete plants, and two crushing and screening complexes in operation. More than 300,000 cubic meters of sand-gravel and crushed-stone mix and 150,000 tons of asphalt concrete will be laid into the road pavement structure.
The project is quite complex because of the engineering structures and the terrain features, ZAO “Trud” notes. The road will pass through uninhabited areas, bypassing the villages of Baklashi and Vvedenshchina, across lands of the forestry agency and agricultural lands. The terrain is rugged, with deep cuts and high embankments. The height of the embankment in some sections may reach 20 meters. There are two bridges on the route: a 38-meter bridge over the Veresovka River at the entrance and a 300-meter bridge over the Irkut River near the village of Baklashi. The road width is 15 m, and the carriageway consists of two traffic lanes, each 3.75 m wide.