Motorway construction to break all records in 2015

Motorway construction in Slovakia should break all records in 2015, said National Highway Company (NDS) General Director Milan Gajdoš at Road Conference 2015, which was organised in Bratislava on Tuesday by the Slovak Road Society to mark its 25th anniversary. "We've only been speaking about stretches so far. This year and in the next few years we're gradually approaching a phase in which the motorway network is really becoming a network with continuous stretches", said Gajdoš. The National Highway Company will also focus more on safety features, such as fencing, crash barriers and cat's eyes, along with services for drivers. Gajdoš reported that as of April, the National Highway Company is launching a project called 'motorway patrol', which should boost services for drivers and road safety. Denisa Žiláková from the Transport, Construction and Regional Development Ministry noted that almost 130 kilometres of motorways and expressways are currently being constructed. She pointed out that the building of motorways and expressways and the modernisation of first-, second- and third-category roads is a time and money consuming process that needs support from European funds. The Transport Ministry's overall goal is to construct around 180 kilometres of motorways, expressways and first-category roads from the Transport Operational Programme for 2015. This includes five large projects in eastern Slovakia worth €660 million in total. "Our goal is to use unique European Funds for the benefit of our country in order to make transport in Slovakia fast, safe and fluent, and to put travelling here on a par with countries in western Europe", she added.