The quality of roads in a particular country is an objective indicator on which the standard of living itself largely depends. Those states that spend huge amounts of money on maintaining road surfaces in good condition also occupy high positions in the global rankings in other indicators, for example, in standard of living and per capita income.
However, it would be wrong to say that huge sums are spent on maintaining roads. We all remember how, during the preparation of the Olympics in Sochi, the state devoted great effort to the restoration of roads. The same picture was observed in Ukraine in 2010-2012, when preparations for Euro 2012, the European Football Championship, were in full swing. But these events had almost no effect on the position of Russia and Ukraine in the global ranking; we trailed behind the rest of the Planet, and so we remain there:
- Russia ranks 136th in terms of road quality;
- Ukraine - 144th place.
It’s just that our leadership does not always understand that simply patching holes and potholes is not a comprehensive approach. An integrated approach is the use of the most modern construction technologies, a complete rethinking of road construction and the transition of the economy to new slats.
But in the leading countries in terms of road quality, this has long been understood. Experts from the World Financial Forum traveled to 148 countries and determined where the best and worst roads are. Only Moldova is lower than Ukraine and Russia in this rating - in 148th place. And the top ten looks like this (this is data for the end of 2013 - beginning of 2014).
This country has long been considered one of the best in terms of road quality. There are many toll highways in France, but the free roads here are also of very good quality. It is also captivating that even in the most remote corners of the country you can easily find service stations, or, in extreme cases, contact service representatives who, within a short time, will provide the full range of services - from replacing a burst tire to evacuating the car to a workshop. All autobahns in France are illuminated at night, so driving here is a real pleasure.
Second place in the ranking is occupied by the paradise of oil sheikhs - the United Arab Emirates. Well, this can be understood, as long as the sheikhs have oil, they spend all their income on maintaining a good standard of living for their compatriots. Highways here are built using German technology; in megacities like Dubai, there are a lot of multi-tiered highways with interchanges. On the construction of roads in the UAE, as well as on any other projects, you can meet architects and engineers from all over the world who honestly earn their multimillion-dollar salaries.
In third place in terms of quality is the Asian Tiger. Here, large amounts of money are spent on maintaining and repairing the roadway, which is not very easy due to the high volume of traffic and weather conditions - the rainy season, which regularly comes to this small state. By the way, perhaps due to the fact that Singapore is just a large city in size, the roads here are maintained in such a quality.
Took fourth place. Old-timers remember that just recently this country on the outskirts of Europe was frightening with a low standard of living, unemployment and social problems, and the roads were a sore spot. Now here are some of the best roads in the world - that's what an economic miracle means.
Fifth place was taken by another country of oil magnates -. Local sheikhs and princes do not want to drive their expensive cars off-road, so they invest in roads.
Switzerland and Austria occupy sixth and seventh places. Most of the roads here are toll roads; there are many tunnels in the Alps and serpentines in the mountains. Driving here is a pleasure.
They spare no expense on roads in China either. Hong Kong- eighth place.
Finland, despite the cold winters, ranks ninth; roads here are built using special technologies.
Moved to tenth place. The country is experiencing financial difficulties and the road surface as a whole is becoming outdated, but even thirty-year-old German roads have provided the country with 10th place in the global ranking.
Experts from the World Economic Forum published a large-scale report in which they presented a study of the economies of the world, as well as named the states with the worst and best roads. In total, 137 countries were included in the list. The quality of their roads was assessed on a scale from one to seven, where “one” is the most negative indicator, and “seven” is the best result. It is noteworthy that none of the states scored the highest score, but some were very close to the designated “ideal”.
Thus, the top ten leaders included the United Arab Emirates (6.4 points), Singapore (6.3 points), Switzerland (6.3 points), Hong Kong (6.2 points), the Netherlands (6.1 points), Japan (6.1 points), France (six points), Portugal (six points), Austria (six points) and the USA (5.7 points).
UAE
The second ten best performers included Taiwan and China (tied for 11th place), Korea, Denmark, Oman, Germany, Spain, Qatar, Sweden, Croatia and Luxembourg.
Russia was also included in the list, but ended up only in 114th place, scoring only 2.9 points.
Thus, Russia has surpassed in this indicator such countries as Kazakhstan (2.9 points), Zimbabwe (2.8), Malawi (2.8), Nepal (2.8), Venezuela (2.8), Romania (2 .7), Lebanon (2.7), Kyrgyzstan (2.7), Costa Rica (2.6), Chad (2.6), Lesotho (2.6), Cameroon (2.6), Nigeria (2 ,5), Moldova (2.5), Mozambique (2.5), Ukraine (2.4), Paraguay (2.4), Yemen (2.3), Guinea (2.2), Madagascar (2. 2), Haiti (2.1), Congo (2.1) and Mauritania (2.0).
Reuters Yemen
At the same time, its authors note a trend towards a general improvement in the quality of Russian roads. Let us explain that the experts obtained the road quality parameter by compiling a general Global Competitiveness Index of Countries 2017-2018- according to this indicator, Russia took 38th place out of 137.
“The Russian Federation showed improvements in five areas, mainly due to the macroeconomic climate, and is actively emerging from the 2015-2016 recession,” the study says. “However, the country's economy remains heavily dependent on mineral exports and its prospects remain uncertain. Weak links include the financial market, in particular the banking sector, as well as the quality of a number of institutions, for example, property rights, independence of the judiciary. At the same time, corruption remains one of the most problematic factors for doing business in Russia. In Russia, new laws were passed to increase the minimum wage (2015) and protect temporary employment (2016), which led to a decrease in labor market flexibility. However, in the end, this could have a positive effect by restoring domestic purchasing power, which was negatively affected by inflation and the weak ruble.”
What is being repaired and has been repaired on Russian roads
According to Rosavtodor, in 2017, more than 39 thousand km or 77.96% of the total length of federal highways in Russia were brought into standard condition. In particular, on the territory of the Moscow transport hub, the construction and reconstruction of sections of the Moscow Big Ring, the M-8 Kholmogory highway, including the bypass of the village, has been completed. Tarasovka and others.
In the North-West, construction and reconstruction of sections of federal highways with a total length of almost 40 km have been completed, including the first stage of construction of a bypass of the city of Gatchina with a length of 12.4 km on the federal highway R-23 St. Petersburg - Pskov - to the border with Belarus, the first stage of construction of the Sosnovo-Varshko section with a length of 15.9 km on the federal highway A-121 “Sortavala” and others.
In order to improve the conditions for international transportation, sections of the approaches to the state border of the Russian Federation with the Kingdom of Norway on the 16.7 km long federal highway P-21 “Kola” in the Murmansk region and with the Republic of Latvia on the federal highway M-9 “ Baltiya" with a length of 4.5 km in the Pskov region.
In the Far Eastern Federal District, the construction and reconstruction of sections of the federal highways Lena, Kolyma, Ussuri and others with a total length of 85.5 km has been completed.
In 2018, road workers plan to increase the share of the length of roads that meet regulatory requirements to 82.8% of the total length.
For this purpose, for example, on federal highways it is planned to put into operation 275.7 km after construction and reconstruction, which will exceed the 2017 level by 19.5%. In addition to the transport crossing through the Kerch Strait, it is planned to ensure the phased creation of a modern road route in the direction Krasnodar - Novorossiysk - Kerch, to carry out the construction of a number of bypasses of cities, intersections at different levels with railway tracks on the busiest routes, to complete the construction and reconstruction of transport interchanges at different levels on the M-7 Volga highway in Balashikha, Moscow region, and so on.
The most traffic-congested countries
It should be noted that studies on the quality and congestion of roads are carried out regularly by various organizations and institutes. Thus, in 2017, the research company INRIX, specializing in traffic information services and services for drivers, compiled. As part of the annual analytical study Global Traffic Scorecard, INRIX specialists studied the traffic situation in 1064 cities in 38 countries and, taking into account the average number of hours drivers spent in traffic jams per year, identified leaders and outsiders. The 2015 leader in this indicator, the United States, was moved from first place to fourth due to the addition of South American and Asian countries to the ranking. Thus, on average, American drivers spent more than an entire working week in traffic jams - 42 hours. The country with the busiest roads in the world is Thailand, where drivers lost 61 hours in peak traffic jams. Colombia is in second place (47 hours), and Indonesia is in third place (47 hours). Russia shared fourth place with the United States - Russian drivers also sit in traffic jams on average 42 hours a year. The UK came in 11th (32 hours) and Germany 12th (30 hours). The authors of the study reported that this time they analyzed the traffic situation in more than a hundred Russian cities for the first time.
Russia is gradually improving its position in the ranking of countries in terms of road quality. The latest list according to the 2017-2018 Global Competitiveness Index, which included 137 countries, is presented on the WEF (World Economic Forum) website. Our country is now ranked 114th, while at the end of 2015 it occupied only 123rd position, and in 2012 it was almost in the very tail (in 136th place).
To find out about the quality of roads, a survey was conducted among business representatives who were asked to answer the question “How would you rate the quality of roads in your country?” At the same time, quality was proposed to be assessed on a scale from 1 to 7, where the minimum value suggests the answer “extremely undeveloped / among the worst in the world”, and the maximum - “extremely developed / among the best in the world”.
Based on the survey results, Russia received a total score of 2.9 (). Judging by the report published on the WEF website, over the entire period of such surveys, Russia has only improved its position. From year to year, businessmen’s assessment of Russian roads is growing. In contrast to the outsider in the rating – Mauritania, whose “curve” is gradually moving down. Now this country leads the list of states with the poorest quality roads.
TOP 25 countries with the poorest quality roads in 2017-2018 |
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| Place | A country | Point |
| 1 | Mauritania | 2,0 |
| 2 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 2,1 |
| 3 | Haiti | 2,1 |
| 4 | Madagascar | 2,2 |
| 5 | Guinea | 2,2 |
| 6 | Yemen | 2,3 |
| 7 | Paraguay | 2,4 |
| 8 | Ukraine | 2,4 |
| 9 | Mozambique | 2,5 |
| 10 | Moldova | 2,5 |
| 11 | Nigeria | 2,5 |
| 12 | Cameroon | 2,6 |
| 13 | Kingdom of Lesotho | 2,6 |
| 14 | Chad | 2,6 |
| 15 | Costa Rica | 2,6 |
| 16 | Kyrgyzstan | 2,7 |
| 17 | Lebanon | 2,7 |
| 18 | Romania | 2,7 |
| 19 | Venezuela | 2,8 |
| 20 | Nepal | 2,8 |
| 21 | Republic of Malawi | 2,8 |
| 22 | Zimbabwe | 2,8 |
| 23 | Kazakhstan | 2,9 |
| 24 | Russia | 2,9 |
| 25 | Republic of Benin | 2,9 |
It remains not entirely clear how exactly the survey participants assessed the roads. What roads were we talking about: federal, regional, municipal? About the entire road network as a whole? It is also important which regions of the country the respondents visited, because the situation can vary greatly from subject to subject of the Russian Federation.
If we assume that Russian businessmen focus their answers mainly on the state of federal highways, then it is not surprising that in recent years they have noted an improvement in the quality of roads: the task of bringing them to standard condition was set at the highest level. Now the government has also taken up regional roads (), and the regional authorities have begun to use road funds more actively.
The rating answers the question of which countries should be compared to in terms of road quality. The top ten includes the United Arab Emirates (6.4), Singapore (6.3), Switzerland (6.3), Hong Kong (6.2), the Netherlands (6.1), Japan (6.1), France ( 6.0), Portugal (6.0), Austria (6.0) and the United States of America (5.7).
Russia is gradually adopting foreign experience in the construction, repair and maintenance of roads. Not so long ago it appeared in our country (in the Murmansk region): the idea was borrowed from Norway (in the ranking it is in 58th place with an indicator of 4.3 points). Presumably the bright lines should be better visible on highways in winter, when the roads are hidden under snow.
Experts from the World Economic Forum traveled along the roads of 144 countries to select the best. Unfortunately, out of 144 possible places, Russia took only 136th position in the final list. Our neighbors are Ukraine and the Central African Republic of Gabon.
By the way, The roads of Moldova were recognized as the most terrible. Well, we bring to your attention the ten countries that top the ranking of countries in terms of road quality.
The last place in the top ten can be explained by the fact that most of the German autobahns are over 30 years old. By the way, to check the condition of roads, the Germans have been using the latest laser scanning technology since this year.
9. Finland
Maintaining the quality of roads in a country where winter temperatures annually drop to minus 40 degrees is not an easy task. To detect hidden defects that can destroy the coating over time, the Finns use thermal imaging cameras.
8. Hong Kong
This small Asian state boasts the highest level of infrastructure development, including transport. No expense is spared in building and maintaining the quality of roads in Hong Kong, believing that the transport network plays an important role in the attractiveness of the region for investors.
7. Austria
The most troublesome for Austrian road builders is the high-altitude Alpine sections, which deteriorate faster than others. However, the responsible services cope with their task successfully - the roads in Austria are of the highest quality.
6. Switzerland
In order to maintain the excellent quality of the road surface, Swiss roads were made toll. When entering the country, you must purchase a vignette. Traveling through some tunnels requires an additional fee, since maintaining the road through the mountain is expensive.
5. Oman
Expensive cars of oil princes and their subjects must drive on good roads. This rule has been followed in Oman for several decades. No expense is spared on the development of the country's road network.
4. Portugal
Even 25 years ago, the quality of the road surface in the country horrified both local residents and tourists. However, today in Portugal even the tiniest villages can boast excellent roads, not to mention highways of national importance.
3. Singapore
The level of development of engineering and construction technologies in the country deserves special praise. The road construction industry was no exception. Huge amounts of money are allocated for the construction and repair of highways in Singapore, which allows them to maintain the highest quality, despite the volume of traffic.
2. UAE
The construction of roads in the Emirates is carried out using technologies borrowed from the Germans, in addition, almost all highways in the country are well lit at night. The country is also fond of numerous multi-level roundabouts, for the design and construction of which the best engineers from all over the world are involved.
1. France
Excellent quality of coverage, availability of lighting at night, an abundance of service stations - all this makes French roads the best in the world. Moreover, experts note that the quality of toll and free roads is practically no different.