Remote Russian island benefiting from new road

A remote Russian island is to benefit from a new road connection.
By MJ Woof June 26, 2020 Read time: 2 mins
The Russian Government is building a new road on Iturup Island as part of a programme of works to develop its infrastructure – image © courtesy of Mohamed Osama, Dreamstime.com

The remote Russian-controlled Iturup Island is to benefit from a new road connection. This 60km road will run between the island’s biggest town, Kurilsk, and Burevestnik Airport.

Around 3.4km of the road will be surfaced while 2.7km will feature a gravel road construction. The remainder of the road will however be unpaved.

Building the road forms part of a programme of works by the Russian Government to develop infrastructure on the island in a bid to lift its economy. The road is expected to be complete by 2024.

Tourism is a sector expected to benefit from the improved link as the remote island is home to many rare species and of interest to wildlife enthusiasts. The road will also be of benefit to the Russian military forces on the island, which has an airbase.

At present the island’s roads are in poor condition and largely unsurfaced. As a result, drivers often use the beaches along the coast to make journeys.

Iturup Island was previously named Staten Island and is one of the Southern Kurils, the ownership of which is disputed between Russia and Japan. The volcanic island is primarily a nature reserve but is also the world’s primary source of the element rhenium, used as a catalyst and also in gas turbine engine components.
 

Road Structures

Related Content

  • Mott MacDonald wins Erika storm damage repair work in Dominica
    August 16, 2017
    Mott MacDonald is providing design work for 20km of the Loubiere to Bagatelle road rehabilitation project in Dominica. The client, Dominica’s ministry of public works, is repairing the route following significant damage by tropical storm Erika in 2015. A grant from the UK’s Department for International Development has been provided to Dominica through the Caribbean Development Bank. Completion of works Mott MacDonald’s work is expected in 2019.
    Read More
  • Pre-stressed bridge decks use modular formwork system
    July 9, 2012
    Imaginative formwork, often using modular components, is helping to shape some challenging bridges worldwide. Patrick Smith reports Traffic volumes in and around Prague have swollen massively in recent years, pushing the existing road network to the limits of its capacity. To permanently ease congestion in the Czech capital's centre, a multi-lane orbital motorway is under construction as a high capacity bypass for central Prague and to link up all the motorways and other major highways radiating from the ci
    Read More
  • Europe closes in on the crossings
    September 27, 2017
    The Mersey Gateway bridge project off England’s west coast passed a milestone recently with the first joining of two of the deck sections. The key segments, as the sections are called, link the north approach viaduct to the north pylon deck span and are the first of four deck-joins scheduled for this summer. In total, there are five sections of bridge deck and approach roads that need to be joined.
    Read More
  • Ethiopia planning road network growth
    June 11, 2018
    Ethiopia is setting a target of 2020 to complete its road expansion programme. The plan has been to double the length of the country’s road network in the period from 2015 to 2020. At present Ethiopia has around 121,200km of roads, compared with around 100,000km of roads in 2015. But by 2020, the Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) aims to expand the network to 200,000km.
    Read More

Highlighted Content