Upgrading all of Kazakhstan's roads to the first category would be costly and largely ineffective, said Darhan Imashev, head of KazAvtoZhol, at a briefing at the Central Communications Service. He was responding to journalists' questions about which highways could become more comfortable for drivers in the coming years and on what timeline, according to infohub.kz.
According to the speaker, for a section to be upgraded to the first category, traffic intensity must exceed 7,000–8,000 vehicles per day. "A full-scale upgrade of all roads is, first, a very expensive undertaking. Second, it is ineffective," he added.
Nevertheless, work in this direction is underway. This year, the Aktobe–Kyzylorda highway will begin conversion to the first category. "To date, it has been a two-lane road. This is the Western Europe–Western China project. Now we are converting it to four-lane traffic. The Karaganda–Zhezkazgan project: this road was built in the 1960s and is two-lane. This year we are simultaneously building two more lanes, with further conversion to a first-category road, that is, four-lane. This work is ongoing," emphasized the head of KazAvtoZhol.
In the future, the Taldykorgan–Ust-Kamenogorsk highway may be considered, given the growing traffic intensity.
A separate proposal concerns the very concept of an "international highway." "Within the working group, we at KazAvtoZhol have proposed including in the definition of 'international highway' a requirement to avoid two-lane roads and to build at least three-lane traffic. In international practice, there is a concept of 'three-lane traffic.' What does it look like? Two lanes, and every 5 or 10 kilometers an additional third lane. That is, cars travel in a convoy, and if there is a need to overtake, then for one of the directions the number of lanes increases from one to two. Specifically, every 5–10 kilometers, it will run in what people might call a 'snake' pattern. And thereby we give vehicles the opportunity to overtake and pass other road users. This is, first, cheaper, second, faster, and third, more effective. We are also proposing these suggestions within the working group," summarized the speaker.