Georgia’s main east-west highway has been blocked for two days

Works at River Chkhara (Road Department photo)

TBILISI, DFWatch–E60, the central highway through Georgia, has been blocked for two days due to bad weather. Vehicles are currently rerouted near Kutaisi in the western part of the country.

According to the Infrastructure Ministry’s Road Department, a section of road was damaged at the 206th kilometer of the Tbilisi-Senaki-Leselidze road due to flooding of the river Chkhara.

Repair work was halted due to bad weather last night. Chkhara flooded again in the morning.

On Friday, repair work was resumed, and the river bed is being cleaned. Traffic is being rerouted through the Zestaponi-Baghdati-Kutaisi road, but trailers and semi-trailers are prohibited from using that road.

The weather has also created difficulties other places in the country. The Road Department published a list of roads where there are restrictions for vehicles:

All types of vehicles are prohibited from using the 94km-110km section of the Koda-Partskhisi-Manglisi-Tsalka-Ninotsminda road to the border with Armenia.

Drivers are asked to use snow chains on the 80km-136km section of the Mtskheta-Stepantsminda road, which leads to the Larsi border crossing with Russia.

In Svaneti, there are restrictions from 70km to 188km of the Zugdidi-Jvari-Mestia-Lasdili road, where trailers, semi-trailers and vehicles with more than 30 seats are prohibited from driving.

All types of vehicles are prohibited from driving on the 106km to 117km section of the Batumi-Akhaltsikhe road.