Posted on 04/11/2012 5:44:56 AM PDT by cunning_fish
Russians get perverse pleasure out of taking photos of their bad roads and then posting the pictures on the internet. This year, for the first time, Russia is expected to top Germany as Europe’s largest car market. With car purchases increasing by 20 percent in Russia this year, the Center of Automotive Management predicts that Russians will buy 3.2 million vehicles during 2012, slightly more than Germany. So how are Russia’s roads? According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report, Russia ranks number 125 out of 139 countries on the quality of its highway infrastructure. According to another report, this one by Renaissance Asset Management, barely half of Russia’s road networks meet minimum riding quality and strength measurements. All this leads to a highway fatality rate in Russia that is higher than in Brazil, China and India. But I don’t need reports to tell me this the morning after I made a hair raising 250 kilometer drive from Moscow to Yaroslavl. And then back again.
In a 20-kilometer bypass of the M8, the drivers of 18-wheel trucks zig-zagged around huge potholes eased their rigs slooowly over deepening trenches gouged in crumbling asphalt, or tried their luck in the spring chocolate sauce of deep mud that bounded that two lane “highway.” All the while, drivers of private cars wrestled to find their space in this obstacle course. I felt a pang of nostalgia. I felt I was back in Brazil in the 1970s, trying to move along the fringe of Amazon rainforest. April is the mud season in Siberia! But this was “European Russia” and my destination was Yaroslavl, an ancient city founded in 1010. Yaroslavl was built on the west bank of the Volga River, Russia’s main thoroughfare for trade for centuries. After 1,000 years, the Russian
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.voanews.com ...
“give me some space until the election, I’ve got a lot more flexibility after the election. “
Maybe we can fund those Russian roads
How wide is a missle carrier truck?
It was for the Germans in the western part of the country too, bracketed by the summer heat and dust and minus 50 degree C seasons. I remember the jaw (and car suspension) breaking rides on Russian roads back in the 90's. Guess things have only marginally improved since then.
The bad roads help prevent invasions! w/sarc
If you want to know about Russian roads, have a chat with veterans of the Wehrmacht.
I bet the Chevy Dolt is a popular seller over there!/s
The Icelanders seem to have adapted to their terrain. They buy vehicles, and modify vehicles, so they can conquer their distances.
These trucks are ENORMOUS. Why would russians take these nice, low, pavement-only cars into their wilderness ?
In fact this ‘Lena’ highway you posted there on the West from Yakutsk considered ‘good’ road. Yakutsk-Magadan on the East to Pacific coast or a ‘road of bones’ is much worse. In winter on some routes truckers are making up to $10,000 for a trip there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdgLHO787-0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTaiFNuUVSg
You have to look closely, but its there: “Communism did a good job of wiping out Russian feelings of responsibility toward public property.”
They seem to have left out the Road of Bones: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/features/122_1102_the_road_of_bones_vladivostok_to_magadan/viewall.html
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