From March 15 until the end of 2017, the Baikal Highway will be closed for reconstruction. A detour will be organized along a gravel road near the village of Pivovarikha. The updated section, 8.5 kilometers long, will include two overpasses, two bridges, and new stops with sidewalks. The project is funded under a federal program and is to be completed by November 2017.

City authorities plan to close the Baikal Highway at the exit from Irkutsk from March 15 until the end of 2017 due to its reconstruction. A detour will be organized along a gravel road near the village of Pivovarikha, reported the Minister of Construction and Road Management of the region, Svetlana Svirkina.
Initially, the detour was scheduled to open on March 1, but it was postponed to March 15 due to the holidays.
As the minister explained, the reconstructed section, which is approximately 8.5 kilometers long, will include two overpasses near the settlement of Molodezhny and the village of Pivovarikha, two bridges over the Volchiy Klyuch River, access roads to populated areas, and four bus stops, each with sidewalks for pedestrians.
“The contract cost is about 3 billion rubles. We plan to allocate half of this in 2016, and 1.8 billion in 2017. Currently, we have the construction permit signed, the organization is funded, and work is already underway. Funding is provided under the federal targeted program for the economic and social development of the Far East and the Baikal region. Under this program, we have been allocated just over 800 billion rubles, with approximately the same amount from the regional program. The project is expected to be completed by November 2017,” added Svetlana Svirkina.
According to a representative of the contracting organization, chief engineer of mechanized column No. 162, Shamil Khalikov, there are currently 162 people working on the construction site, with eight bulldozers, seven excavators, and about 20 dump trucks involved. Thirty hectares of forest have already been cleared, with another 80 hectares remaining—approximately 19,000 cubic meters of forest, which is planned to be auctioned off.
It is worth noting that the reconstruction of the Baikal Highway began at the 8 km mark at the end of 2014. Over the course of a year, the road section up to the 12 km mark was updated, with the cost of the work amounting to 1.5 billion rubles. A competition was then announced for the reconstruction of an additional 17 km, with an initial contract value of 3 billion rubles. Funds were to be allocated from both the regional and federal budgets.
Additionally, in mid-February, Svetlana Svirkina stated that the reconstruction of the highway in the section from 21 to 29 km was in question due to a lack of funding guarantees.