Kosovo's highway and bridge construction on target

In Kosovo, work is pushing ahead of schedule on the Route 7 highway to link capital Pristina with the Albanian border. Sections of the 120km highway have been opened, one year ahead of schedule. An official opening of several sections of the highway has been carried out by Kosovan leaders, including Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi, President Atifete Jahjaga, and members of Parliament, along with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and US representatives Eliot Engel (D- NY) and Gary Peters (D-MI) joined thousan
May 4, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
The bridges for Kosovo's Route 7 Highway are being built along modular lines with standardised 40m pre-cast concrete beams being installed over the top of the piers
In Kosovo, work is pushing ahead of schedule on the Route 7 highway to link capital Pristina with the Albanian border.

Sections of the 120km highway have been opened, one year ahead of schedule. An official opening of several sections of the highway has been carried out by Kosovan leaders, including Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi, President Atifete Jahjaga, and members of Parliament, along with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and US representatives Eliot Engel (D- NY) and Gary Peters (D-MI) joined thousands of Kosovans to celebrate at an opening ceremony.

The project is being carried out by US/Turkish joint venture partners 4138 Bechtel and 5252 Enka, with construction having commenced in the second quarter of 2010. Funding for the project has come from the Kosovan Government itself and route optimisation work by Bechtel-Enka managed to avoid the need for boring twin tube tunnels to the south east of Pristina.

Instead the main Route 7 highway joins with the M9 dual carriageway to the south west of the city, which was built recently by a local contractor. This modified route reduced construction costs for the Route 7 project considerably, a major factor in Bechtel-Enka winning the contract.

The motorway is scheduled for completion in 2013. A full report on this project will be published in the Jan/Feb issue of World Highways.

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