Putin opens Moscow to St Petersburg motorway after 14 years of work

After roughly 14 years of construction work, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most important infrastructure projects - a 670 kilometre roadway between Moscow and St Petersburg - is now open.

Putin inaugurated the last section of the motorway - a bypass around the provincial town of Tver - by driving a Russian-produced Lada Aura car.

The last section to be built includes a 738-metre long bridge that spans the upper reaches of the Volga River.

The plans to relieve the old route between Russia's most important cities go back a long way. The route passed through many villages and was only partially developed as a motorway. Putin ordered the new motorway to be built in 2004 and construction of the first section began in 2010.

But it's not free.

Drivers will have to pay a toll nearly everywhere on the new M-11 motorway. The most expensive is the first section from Moscow to the Sheremetyevo Airport and beyond, which costs 795 roubles ($9).

Depending on the day and fare, the entire journey can cost more than 3,000 roubles.

While in Tver, Putin also opened a second important new route, as reported by the state-owned TASS news agency: the motorway bypass around the city of Tolyatti with a 3.7 kilometre bridge over the Volga at its lower reaches.