The Kvesheti-Kobi Highway project is situated entirely in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti Region, across the Dusheti and Kazbegi municipalities. It spans from the Kvesheti area and Khada Valley in the Dusheti Municipality to the Kobi area in the Kazbegi Municipality.  

Construction works for the Kvesheti-Kobi project are actively underway: the CREG single shield TBM (diameter 14,86 m) has driven 2.242 m of the 9 km main tunnel, installing the segments at the same time; 3,300 m of the safety tunnel has been excavated; the construction of the road leading to the tunnel cis well underway.

The new Kvesheti-Kobi Highway will be 22.7 km long, 11 km shorter than the existing road and travel time between Kvesheti and Kobi will be reduced to 15 min instead of 1 hour.   

The Kvesheti-Kobi project, 22.7 km 2-lane road, is divided into two construction packages:  Lot 1: Tskere - Kobi: Chainage km 12.7- km 22.7 (10 km), Lot 2: Kvesheti - Tskere: Chainage km 0.0 - km 12.7 (12.7 km).    

Lot 1  

The Tskere-Kobi portion of the project road includes an 8.86 km long tunnel (so called Tunnel 5) with two cut and cover sections and a junction connecting to the existing road near Kobi. More specifically Lot 1 includes: 

• 178 m long section of road from Tskere to the south portal of Tunnel 5; 
• Tunnel 5 - 8.86 km long bidirectional, 2 lanes tunnel. It will ensure the transit of cargo at any time of the year 
• Two cut and cover (C&C) sections of the Tunnel (200m – south portal and 8m – north portal) to protect 
• from avalanches and move entrance portal farther from the Tskere; 
• 9.06 km emergency gallery parallel to the Tunnel and 17 connections to the main tunnel; 
• Technical buildings next to the north and south portals – the buildings include facilities building, pumping 
• station and ventilation room; 
• 0.8 km long section of road connecting the north portal of the tunnel with existing road; and 
• 214 m long local road diversion. 

Lot 2  

The Kvesheti – Tskere section includes a total of 2.5 km of tunnels and 1.5 km of bridges. The main elements of this section are: 

• Kvesheti bypass road (length 3.2 km), 
• Bridge 1 (length 27.8 m, height 14 m, 2 lane) 
• Bridge 2 over the Aragvi river (length 435.28 m, height 62 m, 3 lanes) 
• Tunnel 1 (length 1,540.64 m, 2 lanes) with gallery (1,092 m) (New Austrian tunnelling method- NATM 3) 
• Bridge 3 - Arch bridge over the River Khadistskali (length 426 m, height 164 m, 3 lane) 
• Tunnel 2 (length 193.42 m, C&C, 3 lane) 
• Bridge 4 over the left tributary of River Khadistskali river (length 147.80 m, height 26 m, 3 lane) 
• Tunnel 3 (length 388.38 m) 
• Bridge 5 (length 322 m, height 55 m, 3 lane) 
• Tunnel 4 (length 299 m, C&C, 3 lane) 
• Bridge 6 (length 218 m, height 48 m, 3 lane) 
• Five grade junctions are planned and 3 service roads. 

The works are being carried out by China Railway Tunnel Group Co., Ltd. (CRTG) for tunnel section (Lot 1) and China Railway 23rd Bureau Group Co (CR23) for road section (Lot 2). Completion of the project is planned for 2024. Click here for the tunnelbuilder archive and visit https://kveshetikobiroad.ge/en/. 29/22.