THE REPAIRED 4.6-kilometre-long bypass of the eastern Slovak town of Svidník, on the R4 dual carriageway, which was supposed to have been opened to traffic a year and a half ago, should be finished by the end of 2010, Transport Minister Ján Figeľ said on October 19 during a visit to the construction site.
“At the moment, it is in the interests of everyone that the road is opened for use this year,” the minister said, as quoted by the SITA newswire.
Construction work on the Svidník bypass started at the end of 2007 and should have been finished last year. However, the road was damaged due to landslides and needed to be repaired in three places, leading to the delay. Figeľ said that these problems were in part caused by difficult geological conditions but also because of the fast pace of construction, SITA wrote.
The original planned period of construction was shortened from 48 months to 36 months and later to 18 months. The estimated costs are now around €25 million, but the ongoing repair work means they could still rise.
The bypass is part of the north-south R4 dual carriageway running from the border with Poland through Svidník, Prešov and Košice to the border with Hungary.
The director of operations at the National Highway Company (NDS), Ján Kotuľa, and representatives of the contractors were also present for Figeľ’s visit.
