In the Irkutsk region, reconstruction of the Baikal Tract has begun on the section from km 8 to km 12. The work is planned to be completed by October 30, 2015. The project, worth over 1.5 billion rubles, provides for widening the road to four lanes, building overpasses, lighting, and other safety features, and then upgrading the next sections of the highway.

On January 23, Governor Sergey Eroshchenko held an on-site meeting, at which the Minister of Construction and Road Management of the Irkutsk Region, Marina Sadowskaya, said that the reconstruction work on the Baikal Tract on the section from the 8th to the 12th km should be completed by October 30, 2015.
During the meeting, the governor also noted: “It is a great pity that we took so long to get to this project. Plans to reconstruct the Baikal Tract remained at the level of talk for several decades, and only now has their practical implementation begun. I am very pleased that we have finally started work. Already in October of this year, we will provide residents with a new section of the Baikal Tract — the road that provides one of the exits to Lake Baikal.”
The customer for the work is the State Public Institution “Directorate for the Construction and Operation of Roads of the Irkutsk Region”; as a result of the tenders held, JSC “Road Service of the Irkutsk Region” was selected as the general contractor, and on December 30, 2014, a state contract for the reconstruction of the road was concluded between them. At present, preparatory work is underway at the site - signs informing about the reconstruction have been installed, and shrubs are being cleared.
According to specialists, the category of the existing road on the section from the 8th to the 12th km does not meet traffic intensity requirements; the tract is hazardous - from 150 to 180 traffic accidents occur there each year. The contractor will have to build another traffic lane, increasing their number to four, and completely replace the pavement on the existing lane. It is necessary to widen the roadbed, which will require the removal of 345 thousand cubic meters of soil; 79 thousand tons of asphalt concrete mix are also needed for the construction of the road surface. As a result, the width of the roadbed will increase from 23 to 31.5 m, the carriageway - to 7.5 m in each direction of travel, and the shoulders - to 3 m.
In addition, the construction of two overpasses with ramps, twenty junctions and intersections is planned, and for traffic safety throughout the entire section, acceleration and deceleration lanes and nighttime lighting have been designed. After reconstruction, the road parameters will meet first-category standards. The cost of the reconstruction work will amount to more than 1.5 billion rubles, of which 920 million rubles are planned to be allocated from the federal budget and 609 million rubles from the regional road fund.
The reconstruction work will be carried out around the clock, with the main volume at night; traffic on the existing lanes is not planned to be restricted, but builders recommend that drivers use the detour through Pivovarikha to avoid congestion. The governor was shown the builders’ base camp, where the necessary equipment is already being concentrated and wagons for shift workers have already been installed. At the peak of the work, up to 100 special-purpose vehicles and more than 150 people will be involved simultaneously. The reconstruction of the Baikal Tract on the section from the 8th to the 12th km is only the first stage of the modernization of the entire highway. According to the chief engineer of the directorate, Dmitry Militsyn, design and estimate documentation is currently being developed for the section from the 12th to the 29th km. Then projects for the reconstruction of two more sections will be commissioned: from the 29th to the 49th km and from the 49th to the 64th km. The Irkutsk - Listvyanka road was built in 1961. Over the years, only major repairs have been carried out on different sections of the tract; there has never been a full-scale reconstruction of the road.
The Chairman of the Irkutsk City Duma, Dmitry Berdnikov, stated in his message that the upcoming reconstruction of the Baikal Tract is an integral part of the city’s transport arteries, which require careful attention. In this regard, the municipal authorities will consider the issue of building a number of interchanges that will improve traffic flow and create more comfortable conditions for city residents.
Based on materials from the press service of the Irkutsk administration.