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Putin to open new section of expressway in St. Petersburg on August 2

The northern part of the Western High-Speed Diameter running from the Primorsky Avenue to E-18 Scandinavia highway near Beloostrov settlement will be launched

MOSCOW, August 1 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will open a new section of an expressway in St. Petersburg on Friday, August 2, the Russian presidential press service reported on Thursday.

The northern part of the Western High-Speed Diameter running from the Primorsky Avenue to E-18 Scandinavia highway near Beloostrov settlement will be launched. Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov and St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko will attend an inauguration ceremony of the highway’s section.

The Western High-Speed Diameter is a toll highway in St. Petersburg, which is connecting southern and northern districts in the city. This highway has three sections, including the southern section stretching at 8.5 kilometres from the crossroads on the Moscow Ring Road near the railway station Predportovaya to the road junction at the embankment of the Yekateringofka river, the central section of the highway stretching for 11.7 kilometres from the embankment of the Yekateringofka river to the western end of the Vasilyevsky Island on the right bank of the Bolshaya Nevka River and the northern section of the highway from the right bank of the Bolshaya Nevka River to the highway E-18 Scandinavia near the settlement Beloostrov at a distance of 26.15 kilometres.

The Western High-Speed Diameter is a strategic investment project, which sets the development of St. Petersburg as a major world transport hub. This is the largest infrastructure project in Europe that is being implemented on the principles of public-private partnership, the Kremlin press service said.

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