May Video Overview of the M-12 Construction Progress

General View of the Facility

It is planned to complete the laying of asphalt concrete pavement at the 2nd start-up complex of Phase 1 of the M-12 Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod – Kazan highway construction in August. Pavel Rassokha, Construction Director of STG-Avtomagistral LLC, emphasised this at an operational meeting held at the highway section under construction.

“In mid-August, it is planned to complete the laying of asphalt concrete pavement. Currently, road workers are proceeding with the sand bed, as well as crushed stone-sand mixture and asphalt concrete pavement. In May, we plan to complete the earth bed on all 32 km of the highway, while in June, it is scheduled to complete the road bed,” said Pavel Rassokha.

Asphalt Works  

Currently, 59 thousand tons of asphalt concrete pavement have been laid at the 2nd start-up complex of the highway since the beginning of this year. At the same time, road workers used 18.9 thousand tons of asphalt concrete for the surface course construction in May (planned by the end of the month – 31 thousand tons). Besides, this month, builders used 21.8 thousand tons of asphalt concrete mixture for the lower layer of pavement (planned by the end of May – 40.8 thousand tons). In total, 40.7 thousand tons of asphalt concrete pavement were laid on the highway section under construction in May (planned by the end of the month – 90 thousand tons). Besides, the road workers plan to proceed to the surface course on May 25. This month, the builders will lay about 18 thousand tons of crushed-stone-mastic asphalt concrete.

Currently, about 130 people and 59 units of machinery are involved in asphalt laying, including asphalt pavers, rollers, and distributors. The work is being performed in two shifts. It is noteworthy that the asphalt concrete mixture is supplied to the facility from three plants. Two plants are located at the Pokrov production base and one near the village of Vasilyevka: two Kolokshanets КА-160 asphalt concrete plants (capacity of each is 160 tons per hour) and one Benninghoven ECO 3000 asphalt concrete plant (capacity of the enterprise is 240 tons per hour). Over 50 people are involved in the asphalt concrete mixture production. Each production site has a product quality control laboratory.

As for the highway section, active work is being done on 16 artificial structures, including 4 flyovers across other motor roads and 3 across railroads, as well as 3 overpasses across M-12 Highway itself. Besides, bridge crossings are being built across water barriers (the rivers of Kirzhach, Bolshaya Dubna, Volga, a lake bridge and a swamp bridge), finishing is underway at two pedestrian crossings (near the village of Molodino and Gardeners’ Non-Commercial Partnership Bogaeva Polyana in the Vladimir Region).

Concreting of the Roadway on the Left Span of the Kirzhach River Bridge 

To recap, traffic along the 48 km (Petushki bypass) section of the 1st start-up facility of Highway construction Phase 1 was officially launched in December 2022 by the President of the Russian Federation.

Stroytransgaz Group plans to commission the remaining 32 km of Phase 1 of M-12 Highway ahead of schedule. So, the company ramps up a high pace of the new highway construction. The traffic from Moscow to Arzamas along the federal road is supposed to be launched in September.

Moscow - Nizhniy Novgorod - Kazan Highway is of high priority for road construction in Russia. The macroeconomic effect resulting from the M-12 Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod – Kazan Highway construction is estimated at RUB 2.4 trillion. The new highway will become the main part of the Europe – Western China international transport corridor. The principal portfolio of goods produced in cluster industries will be concentrated on this route: 70% of the automotive industry in Russia, 50% of the aerospace and defence industries, 40% of metallurgy, 30% of the machine-building and instrumentation, 25% of the oil refining, chemistry, petrochemistry, and gas chemistry, mineral fertilizer production, 20% of the food production and agriculture.

*Distributor is a specialty vehicle for uniform pouring of heated organic materials based on tar (bitumen, resin) under pressure during road construction or repairs.