Russia Now 114th out of 137 Countries Ranked by Quality of Roads

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 1 – It is often said that Russia’s twin problems are fools and roads: a new ranking by the World Economic Forum of the quality of roads in 137 countries provides confirmation: Russia’s road system now ranks 114^th, not at the absolute bottom – Mauritania, Congo, and Haiti are there -- but alongside Benin, Burundi and Liberia.

            Bad Russian roads may make it more difficult for an invader should one appear – Russians sometimes celebrate that fact – but they also limit the country’s ability to develop and to integrate its various regions and republics (zen.yandex.ru/media/rim/v-kakih-stranah-hudshie-dorogi-v-mire-i-gde-sredi-nih-rossiia-5b16082200b3dd199f006dfb).

            And what is perhaps more immediately obvious is that this situation stands as an indictment of those in the Russian government who for all they have done for streets and roads near Moscow have left the rest of the country with a highway system completely inadequate to the support of a modern economy and even, over the longer term, a modern military as well.