Albania–Kosovo Highway

The Albania-Kosovo Highway (Rruga e Kombit in Albania or Rruga Dr. Ibrahim Rugova in the Republic of Kosovo), is a four lane highway being built by the American-Turkish consortium Bechtel-ENKA since since 2007 between Albania and Kosovo. In principal, the highway starts at the port city of Durres in Albania and is planned to end at Merdare border crossing between Kosovo and Serbia by forming part of European route E851. Once the Kosovo part of the project is completed, the motorway will link the Adriatic Sea port of Durres in Albania with the Pan-European corridor X in Serbia.

Dubbed the “patriotic highway,” the project links Albanians in Kosovo and Albania, helping to boost cultural and economic ties.^[1] The project is Albania's largest in decades, costing over one billion euros. It will include a six kilometer long tunnel, making travel easier for the hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanians vacationing in Albania during the summer holidays.

A1 Highway in Albania

Sign on the A1 (Rreshen-Kalimash)

A1 refers to the single and dual carriageway segments between Milot - Rreshen - Kalimash - Kukes - Morine. The highway is part of a bigger envisioned corridor beginning at the Albanian port of Durrës, passing through Fushe Kruje, Milot, Rreshen, Reps, Thirra, Kalimash, Kukes and ending at the Morine/Vermice border crossing with Kosovo. The corridor provides a shortcut to the old SH5 route between Shkoder and Kukes part of European route E851. The project was symbolically inaugurated in June 2009 with opening of the tunnel, while the whole project finished by July 2010^{[citation needed]} and the remaining portions by summer 2011. The A1 segment together with Fushe Kruje-Milot are equipped with entry and exit ramps. As of 2011, segments Vore-Thumane, and Milot-Rreshen still remain to be expanded into dual carriageway in the near future. It is expected that the motorway will become a toll highway to cover the costs of maintenance.

Typical scene on the A1 in Albania

The highway is expected to reduce the travel time from the current six hours to two, with an estimated speed of 80–110 km/h. The highway is expected to boost tourism in Albania and deepen the cultural and economic exchanges between the two countries. As most tourists come through Kosovo or Macedonia, the laying of the highway will make it much easier to travel to the Durrës port and the Adriatic Sea.

Construction

Rreshen-Kalimash

The most challenging part of the corridor is the segment between Rreshen and Kalimash, which is around 61 km long. It is divided into three sections - a 19 km stretch from Rreshen to Reps, 27 km from Reps to Thirra and 15 km between Thirra and Kolshi. A total of one tunnel and 27 bridges have been constructed through the steep and mountainous terrain.

There are 17 bridges in the area from Reps to Thirra. The use of a hydro-powered electricity grid instead of diesel generators has helped in reducing the carbon footprint of the project. As a result, CO2 emissions have dropped by 613,000 lb (278,000 kg) each month. The above segment as opposed to the other ones is of a higher quality both for security and construction parameters.

Tunnelling

Tunnel entrance at Thirra

Tunnel entrance at Kalimash

The highway passes through a 5.5 km-long double-bore tunnel. Construction works on the tunnel began in May 2007 and were completed with one tunnel tube inaugurated in June 2009. The south-bound tunnel is scheduled to be completed in July 2010. All four faces of the two tubes of the tunnel have been worked on simultaneously. Rreshen - Kalimash segment's third section of road between Thirra and Kolshi included Mt. Runes at an elevation of 1,858m. Laying road on Mt. Runes proved to be a challenge for the engineers. Another challenge was the transportation of construction equipment and material. As about 3,800 people worked on the project, there was the additional responsibility of feeding, clothing and housing them.

A partial collapse occurred at a 50m section in the central-south bore of the tunnel in November 2009. No injuries or equipment damages were reported. The collapse occurred because of heavy overbreak (during excavation) at a geologically complex area inside the tunnel and delayed the completion of the south-bound tunnel. During the tunnel construction, the tunneling team encountered five types of rock. In fact, only the north-bound tunnel was opened as per schedule in June 2009.^{[citation needed]}

Remaining segments

A1 becomes a single carriageway in Rubik

Construction work on the remaining segments in Albania (Fushe Kruje-Milot, Milot-Rreshen and Kalimash-Morine) finished in 2009 and 2011. In particular, although in double carriageway standard, Kalimash-Morine is less qualitative than the former two ones as it lacks entry and exit ramps, and emergency lanes are narrow. The bridges along the segment will be doubled in the near future while uncontrolled entry and exit points are becoming a major safety issue along the above road axes.^[2]

Project Funding and Contractors

During construction of the A1 in Albania

The highway project is the biggest road infrastructure project ever done in Albania. Its initial cost was estimated at €600m but during the course of construction this has more than doubled. The project is being financed by the government of Albania and some foreign lending institutions. The total cost of the highway is estimated to be over €1bn ($1.4bn).^{[citation needed]} amid allegations of corruption and a growing public debt.

The contract for the construction of road segment between Rreshen and Kalimash which constitutes one-third of the whole project was awarded to a joint venture between Bechtel, a US-based engineering company, and Enka, a Turkey-based construction company. The contract was awarded in September 2006 and a majority of the construction works were completed in June 2009. Contractors working in the remaining portions of the highway are local firms instead. The other segments were constructed by Albanian and Austrian firms. The motorway in Kosovo is being constructed by Bechtel-Enka as well.

R7 Highway in Kosovo

Construction of the Kosovo portion of the highway numbered R7 started in April 2010 with the Vermice-Pristina segment, part of the larger Vermice-Merdare Corridor which ends at Merdare border crossing with Serbia in eastern Kosovo. It is 118 km long at a cost of 700 million euro/ $937 million. This highway will set the travel time from Pristina to Tirana to 3 hours.^[3] The Kosovo portion is of higher security standards than the portion Rreshen-Kalimash in Albania. Once the remaining Pristina-Merdare section project will be finalized and completed the motorway will link Kosovo with the Pan-European corridor X.

Impact

Since the end of the Kosovo War of 1999, hundreds of thousands of Albanians have passed through the poor old mountain road to get to Albania's beaches.^[4] Building a highway would "crystallize a year-round tourism industry and double the size of the Albanian market", while allowing both communities to rationalize agriculture.^[4] Travel times are expected to be lowered to two and a half hours or less, down from seven.^[4]

Once finalized, the project will link the Adriatic Sea with the Pan-European corridor X at the E80 near the town of Merdar between the contested Kosovo-Serbia border.^{[citation needed]}

US Congressman Eliot Engel has compared Sali Berisha's vision to build this highway to that of Eisenhower to build highways across the United States.^[5]

Notes and references

Notes:

References:

See also

• Transport in Albania
• Transport in Kosovo

External links

• Albania's Part of the Motorway Webpage
• Kosovo's Part of the Motorway Official Website
• A1 on Motorway-ExitLists.com