Less then 15% of Russia’s highways to meet operating standards in 2010 - Igor Levitin

Less then 15% of Russia’s highway transportation facilities are to comply with operating standards in 2010, Igor Levitin reported in State Duma according to RBC. As of today, only 37% of federal roads and 24% of regional roads meet the corresponding requirements. Highway transportation network built in 1960-70-ies continue to deteriorate while general economic loss caused by poor state of highways make about 6% of GDP. According to Levitin, the rate of federal road construction is twice as high as before but it is not to solve the problem since traffic density is to stay at the level of 2005 with growth of car amount by a factor of 1.5. If all the cars registered in Russia happen to appear at he roads at a time, they would have interval equal to one car length, Levitin says.