Photo: Separate tunnels for tractors and combine harvesters are being built on Highway H-31
On the new section of the H-31 highway “Dnipro – Tsarychanka – Kobelyaky – Reshetylivka,” agricultural machinery will not share the road with passenger cars and trucks. Separate tunnel overpasses are being built here for tractors and combine harvesters.
The first of these structures, 30 meters long, has already been fully completed, and four more tunnels are currently at various stages of construction.
Construction of the new 30-kilometer section of the H-31 highway is actively progressing toward the future bridge across the Oril River. The main focus is now on the construction of two-level interchanges and engineering structures necessary for the operation of the high-speed highway.
Construction work has already been completed at the first site. Four more tunnel overpasses for agricultural machinery are currently under active construction.
At the second site, workers are installing formwork and performing waterproofing work. At the third site, preparations are underway for concrete pouring of the deck, and at the fourth, 116 piles have already been driven.
At the same time, the road embankment has reached the site of the future bridge across the Oril River.
The project calls for a large number of engineering structures on this section. The route was designed in accordance with strict international standards for high-speed highways, so all intersections are built exclusively at different levels.
“This minimizes the risk of traffic accidents and allows for the maximum permissible speed limit to be set. Five separate tunnel overpasses are being built specifically to prevent local tractors and combines from entering the high-speed lane,” the contractors explain.
While construction of the highway was suspended, all passenger and freight traffic continued to use the old route—a narrow, worn-out road that runs directly through populated areas.
Heavy truck traffic further damages the road surface and poses a danger to local residents.
Therefore, the opening of the new 30-kilometer section from the Dnipro–Donbas Canal to the border with Poltava Oblast is expected to significantly improve the situation for both transit traffic and residents of nearby communities.
The construction of roads of the highest first category (I-a) ensures maximum safety and high travel speeds. The design speed on such roads can reach 130 km/h, and one of the main principles is to isolate the main traffic flow from obstacles.
“The editorial team justifiably used the term ‘autobahn,’ since a first-category road of the I-a subtype can be loosely referred to as a high-speed highway, and in this case, even a full-fledged autobahn or expressway,” note experts from Auto24.
One of the key features of a high-speed highway is the absence of at-grade crossings, traffic lights, and at-grade intersections.
That is why the new highway is designed to include a large number of grade-separated overpasses and tunnels. These will allow local and agricultural vehicles to cross the highway without interrupting the main flow of traffic.
Construction equipment is already shaping the large-scale roadbed, while bridge builders are using powerful cranes to erect two-level overpasses and monolithic tunnel structures.
These structures will not only be used for tractors and combine harvesters. They will also create safe corridors for herding livestock between pastures and, in certain areas, may facilitate the migration of wild animals.
This was reported by the company .
As a reminder, on September 7, traffic was fully restored on a section of the M-06 Kyiv–Chop highway in the Kyiv region following a Russian strike on warehouse facilities in the village of Mila.
