East-West Link (Suriname)

East-West Link
Major junctions
From:	Nieuw Nickerie
To:	Albina
Highway system
Transport in Suriname

The (northern) East-West Link (Dutch: Oost-Westverbinding) is a road in Suriname between Albina in the eastern part of the country to Nieuw Nickerie in the western part, via the capital city of Paramaribo. The southern East-West Link connects Paramaribo with Apoera via Bitagron. Construction of the road link started in the 1960s.

In recent years, various ferries on the East-West Link route have been replaced with bridges. There is a bridge near Groot Henar spanning the Nickerie River. In 1980, a bridge was built on the Commewijne River near Stolkertsijver. Since 1999, the Coppename Bridge connects Jenny with Boskamp, and since 2000 the Jules Wijdenbosch Bridge connects Paramaribo with Meerzorg. On the southern East-West Link, bailey bridges spanning the Coppename River and Nickerie River were built near Bitagron and Kamp 52 respectively.

The bridge spanning the Saramacca River between Hamburg and Uitkijk was opened on 25 June 2011.

The road is in a bad state on several parts of the route, partly due to damage because of the Suriname Guerrilla War. Various revitalization projects have been started.

A 32-kilometre-long section between Nieuw Nickerie and the ferry near South Drain was not paved until recently. The European Union funded the reconstruction, which started in 2007, with 13.2 million euro. The section was due to be completed in the first quarter of 2010.

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Wikipedia