Tirana–Elbasan Highway

Tirana–Elbasan Highway
Rruga Tiranë-Elbasan
Route information
Length: 26 km (16 mi)
Major junctions
From: Tirana
To: Elbasan
Highway system
Highways in Albania

The Tirana–Elbasan Highway is a four-lane highway in Albania still in construction, but inaugurated on 16 June 2013. It covers the distance between the cities of Tirana and Elbasan in the shortest way possible and its total length is 26 kilometres (16 mi).[1] The highway is part of the planned A3 motorway of Albania.

Financing

Krraba Tunnel

$223M from the Islamic Bank for Reconstruction has partly financed the road construction.[1] The total construction cost is calculated at $400M.[2] Other banks financing the highway are the OPEC fund, the Abu Dhabi fund, and the Saudi Fund for development.[3]

Characteristics and Krrabë tunnel

The most important tunnel is the Kërrabë tunnel, whose length is about 4.9 km.[4] The construction for the entire route from Tirana to Elbasan was finalized as projected for June 2013 (18 months construction time). The highway was inaugurated by the Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha on Sunday June 16, 2013. As of July 2014, the highway is not yet completed. Two sectors with a total length of about 8 km are not yet ready and only one half is completed on the rest of the road, temporary allowing two-lane traffic instead of planned four-lane. The highway will be fully completed within june 2015.

References