General Director of Stroytransgaz Inspected the Construction Sites of the M-12 Highway

As part of preparations for the visit of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Marat Khusnullin, the General Director of Stroytransgaz Group of Companies, Vladimir Alexandrovich Lavlentsev, together with the company's top managers, visited the construction site of the 1st stage of the M-12 Moscow-Kazan highway. He recognized the high pace of construction of the highway, and also held a meeting in the Obeya.

Vladimir Alexandrovich noted that this project is a challenge for all road workers of the company. The time frame for building the road from scratch is impressive. Completion of the 1st stage of works is scheduled for 2023. Due to the mere newest approach, which has shown effective results in the introduction and development of the production system at large enterprises of the country, the tasks set are implemented on time. Daily planning of the production process, control and analysis of losses and delays, milestone schedule – all this contributes to success.

On June 13, a field meeting was held with the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Marat Shakirzyanovich Khusnullin, the Chairman of the Board of Avtodor State Corporation, Vyacheslav Petrovich Petushenko, and representatives of contractors. The Vice Prime Minister inspected all sections of the M-12 highway being built from the air, and at the working meetings in Kazan, Murom and the Moscow Region, he called the project the most complex and unprecedented in the field of road construction. Largely because of the accelerated pace.

“We have the main highway, we call it the main route. So, the main route will be completed by the end of 2023, it will pass from Moscow to the Kazan bypass road. But besides this, we still have questions: where to make exits, landscaping, treatment facilities – this entire volume will be completed in 2024, but car users should be able to drive as early as in 2023”, said Marat Khusnullin.

The total length of the highway is 811 km. It will connect five regions – Moscow, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod Regions, the republics of Chuvashia and Tatarstan. M-12 was set to be a part of the international transport route "Europe – Western China". According to the Vice Prime Minister, these plans are still relevant: “Our plans have not changed; on the contrary, we are speeding them up. <...> We believe that in this situation, this corridor is particularly timely for us in terms of cargo delivery, technology, and since China is our main trading partner today, we continue this part of the work,” he said.

Marat Khusnullin also said that in some road sections, the work is going on a double shift basis and ahead of schedule. In this regard, the government sees the need for additional funding for 2022. The issue of the possibility of funding transfer from 2023 to 2022 is being discussed with the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation.

“Now we are having another serious problem. They are ahead of schedule, so they need additional money. Now the main task that they – builders – have set for me is additional money. First of all, [additional funding is required] for M-12, but since to this date we have gathered all the country’s largest contractors, I spoke with each of them about all the facilities,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.

Stroytransgaz Group of Companies is building phase 1 of the M-12 highway, its length is 80 km. Today, asphalt is being actively laid on the main section of the road. The lower layer of the road surfacing is being built – this is the second of three layers to be arranged on the highway. By the end of the year, it is planned to complete about 43 km of the lower layer.

The base top layer is still being laid. At the moment, 28.2 km are ready. Before the end of the last year, more than 200 thousand square metres of asphalt mix were laid. This year, laying started on April 25. A total of 520,000 square metres of asphalt concrete mix has been laid.

Building of the third, upper layer of the coating is scheduled to begin in July. According to the production plan, 50,000 tons per 15 km will be laid.

At phase 1 of the M-12 highway construction, 4 asphalt concrete plants will supply the mixture. Currently, 3 of them have already been launched. With production ramping up, it is expected to lay 4,000 tons per day.

Within the main section, layers to make the basis for asphalt are being built. The length of phase 1 of the highway is 80 km: 55.1 km of the road bed, 42 km of the sand base layer, and 36.2 km of the gravel-sand layer are complete. Since the beginning of the work, 6.9 million cubic metres of sand and 1,084 thousand square metres of stone sand mixture have been used to construct the embankment.

Phase 1 of the M-12 highway construction project will include building 29 crossing structures, which are 24 bridges and overpasses, 3 cattle passes, and 2 pedestrian underpasses. All crossing structures are currently under construction.

Installation of foundation bases for all crossing structures of the current phase will be completed in the 4th quarter of 2022. To date, pile foundations for 21 crossing structures are already in place. At 2 structures, test piles are undergoing dynamic or static tests.

Reinforcement and concreting of monolithic reinforced concrete structures of supports is fully completed for 11 artificial structures. Installation of span beams has been completed for 8 crossing structures. In the nearest future, such beams will be installed at 3 more structures.

Metal structures of the spans were erected at 2 overhead crossings, pre-assembly started at 2 structures. At 8 crossing structures, monolithic reinforced concrete structures of spans are being built.

Concrete work has been completed at all cattle passes. Currently, reinforced concrete structures are being waterproofed, with the subsequent installation of protective concrete layer. The cattle passes are planned to be ready for backfilling at the beginning of the 3rd quarter of 2022.

At the first pedestrian crossing (PC 142), the construction site has been arranged, monolithic base slab for reinforced concrete structures is being prepared (channel, walls, floors, and wing walls). At the second pedestrian crossing (PC 328), monolithic reinforced concrete structures have been installed, the interior finishing of monolithic structures has begun, and the walkway is being prepared for arrangement.

About 2,013 personnel and 475 units of machinery
are engaged in operations on a daily basis.