Iran opens key road between Tehran, Caspian Sea
Iran has opened another section of a costly road project that connects the capital Tehran to the Caspian Sea in the north of the country.
President Ebrahim Raeisi and senior government officials were in the mountainous regions in the north of Tehran on Thursday to inaugurate a single traffic line from the second section of the Tehran-Shomal Highway, Press TV reported.
The 15-kilometer road cost 67 trillion rials ($134 million) and more than three years to finish. It has 17 tunnels and bridges, including the longest road tunnel in the West Asia region with a length of 6.5 kilometers.
The newly-opened highway will shorten the road between Tehran and the city of Chalus on the Caspian Sea coast by 62 kilometers. With its opening, the traffic from the section of the freeway will be directed from the end of the Azadegan Highway in District 22 of Tehran to Zanguleh Bridge in Mazandaran.
Enumerating the benefits and advantages of this freeway project for the people, Raeisi stated that the freeway will address the safety of travel and the health of passengers, which is one the most important concerns of the people, officials, and various foreign and domestic institutions, according to president.ir.
The president emphasized, “The implementation of the third section of this freeway has started today, and we hope that this phase will be built with the same precision and speed as the second section of the freeway”.
On Thursday, Raeisi ordered the start of construction work for section 3 of the highway, a complicated project which is estimated to cost 420 trillion rials ($840 million) and will feature 44 tunnels and 44 bridges along its 54-kilometer route.
The third section of the Tehran-North Freeway is approximately 54km long. The most important feature of this section is that it begins at an altitude of 2,200 meters above sea level and ends at an altitude of about zero above sea level, making this project one of the most special road construction projects in the country.
The total length of the Tehran-North Freeway is 121 km, three out of four sections of which have been put into operation.