Paul
Goble
Staunton, October 28 – An article
intending to show that Russia’s roads are better than Russians think and
therefore should rank higher on international ratings than they do in fact
confirms just how far behind the West that country despite being the largest on
earth lags in developing high-speed, multi-lane roads.
At the end of the 1990s, Ruslan
Khubiyev says, Russia had only 365 kilometers of such highways. Now, it has
2050 km; but Moscow plans to boost that number to 7600 km by 2025. Even if it
reaches that level, which the record suggests is highly unlikely, it will still
lag far behind Western Europe, China and most of the 50 US states (iarex.ru/articles/71890.html).
Most of these modern roads are
concentrated in and around Moscow, thus creating the impression that the
situation with regard to highways in the country as a whole is similar to that
which exists in other countries. But in fact, once one goes a few hundred
kilometers beyond the ring road, such highways are rare.
Khubiyev reports these and other
figures in the course of arguing that Russia’s low ratings regarding highways
represent what he calls “outdated stereotypes” rather than current
reality. And because Russians believe
their country’s roads are bad, Russia is routinely ranked as having bad roads.
“In other words,” the Moscow
commentator says, “if representatives of business in Namibia and Ruanda
consider that their roads are good, those countries rank higher” -- 31st
and 32nd respectively last year while inappropriate Russian
attitudes keep the country down near the bottom at 114th place.
“Automobile roads in Russia are an
eternal problem for a long list of reasons,” the commentator says. First of
all, Russia is “an enormous country,” so connecting all of its parts together
is a huge challenge. Second, there are significant regional variations in
weather and the topography. Third, it lost a great deal of highway
infrastructure in World War II.
Fourth, the Soviet Union missed the
growth in automobiles in other countries in the decades after the war and thus
Russia didn’t have the roads when it began acquiring more cars. And fifth, “the
majority of existing roads were built during the Soviet period” and are wearing
out. Consequently, the need for repairs makes it harder to build new roads.
As Khubiyev points out, the Russian
government divides the country’s roads into three classes, those of federal
importance which connect Moscow with foreign countries and regional center,
those of regional or municipal importance, and those roads and streets within a
particular city or village.
Some in the first category have
serious problems, but a majority of those in the second and third do. The
Russian government plans over the next six years to bring up to standard at
least 85 percent of the roads in 83 federal subjects. Only 46 percent of roads
in this category now do so.
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