Baku roads ready for Baku 2015

/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

Today, thousands of people in Baku will head in the direction of the newly-built National Olympic Stadium to witness the opening ceremony of the first-ever European Games.

To avoid any possible traffic jams, the Traffic Police called on all Baku drivers to join the “20 days without a car” campaign.

“Currently, there are no problems on Baku’s roads,” said Vagif Asadov, the head of the Public Relations Department of the Baku city Traffic Police Department.

Earlier, the Transport Ministry announced the roads that will be closed during the opening ceremony, so that people can reach the venue conveniently and without any delay.

The affected Baku roads will be Heydar Aliyev Avenue -- from the circle on Babek avenue to the Sabunchu road circle, as well as Mehdi Huseynov street -- from the circle on Parliament avenue to its crossroad with Teymur Elchin street. Traffic will completely be restricted on these roads from 4:00pm June 12 until 2:00 am June 13.

“We experience no violations of rules on these roads,” Asadov noted.

He also went on to thank city drivers for understanding. “We invite everyone to use public transport,” he stressed.

Roads that are not closed during the Games also do not experience traffic problems, Asadov added.

In order to create a safe, reliable and accessible transport system for the increased numbers of passengers, Baku transport operates on a very convenient system, so that athletes do not need to wait in traffic.

Azad Rahimov, Azerbaijan’s Youth and Sports Minister and Chief Executive Officer of Baku 2015 said that to create a new bus fleet on the eve of the Games, more than 200 new buses, equipped with air conditioning were purchased.

“Special buses and some 440 new London taxis were purchased for athletes," he said.

He also went on to add that new electric trains were purchased and that the Baku metro is operating overtime.

During the opening and closing ceremonies (June 12 and 28) Baku Metro will operate 21-hours from 06:00am until 03:00am. On other days, however, the metro will operate as usual from 06:00am until 01:00am.

Public transport in the capital will operate from 05:00am until 01:00 am.

If needed, public buses and metro can extend their hours, according to the report.

Baku 2015, the first ever European Games, is an exciting and innovative multi-sport event for the continent which will take place on June 12-28.

There will be a total of 20 sporting events, including 16 Olympic and four non-Olympic. More than 6,000 athletes from across Europe will represent their nations over 17 days of competition.

Twelve of the sports will offer qualification opportunities for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Those sports include Archery, Athletics, Boxing, Cycling, Judo, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Triathlon, Volleyball and Wrestling.