Restoration Service explains what happened to the Odesa-Kyiv highway

After the snow melted, drivers traveling on the Odesa-Kyiv highway began posting numerous videos and reports showing the current state of the road.

Intent decided to ask the Odesa Oblast State Service for Restoration and Development for a comment on the condition of the highway and plans to repair it.

They acknowledged that the road suffered significant damage during the winter due to low temperatures, which contribute to the damage of asphalt and heavy vehicles, but noted that the last major repair of the road was done more than 15 years ago, so the coating has withstood all possible expiration dates.

"The last major overhaul of this highway was done in 2005, and since then the asphalt has withstood everything it could," the service said.

A new overhaul of the road is currently impossible due to a lack of funding caused by the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation and the subsequent redirection of funds for military needs. However, the road restoration service has already begun patching the most damaged areas with cold asphalt mixtures. They plan to resume repairs as weather conditions improve.

In December 2021, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced its readiness to provide the State Road Agency of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) with a tranche of €190 million to repair and improve the technical condition of sections of the M-05 Kyiv-Odesa highway.

In July of the same year, heavy rain caused a landslideand deformation of the road surface on the M-05 Kyiv-Odesa highway near the village of Troitske (Podil district).

In December 2020, Ukravtodor entered into an agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to receive money to restore 275 kilometers of the Kyiv-Odesa highway and build a new highway bypassing Lviv. The EBRD financing was to consist of three tranches - two of them worth €290 million were to be used to reconstruct 275 kilometers of the Kyiv-Odesa highway, and the third was to finance the construction of a 24-kilometer northern section of the ring road around Lviv.

Кирило Бойко