KIEV, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine plans to build a new highway to countries in the European Union (EU) to boost its trade and transit potential, the country's state road agency Ukravtodor said on Tuesday.
The road is expected to link Ukraine's western city of Lviv, which lies near the Polish border, with the Hungarian border. With a length of about 300 km, the highway is expected to halve the travel time from Ukraine to Hungary.
In the long term, the highway will be extended to the Ukrainian border with Slovakia.
"This road will become the main artery for the export of Ukrainian goods to the countries in Eastern and Southern Europe and the transit corridor of international trade through Ukraine," the Ukravtodor said in a statement.
The Ukravtodor is preparing a pre-feasibility study on the first stage of the project together with the World Bank. The estimated cost of the project has yet to be revealed.
According to Ukrainian traffic authorities, countries in Eastern Europe have about 170,000 km of roads, with half the length in need of a major revamp.
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