Two new M-4 sections were opened to bypass Rostov and Krasnodar to Crimea

Travel from Moscow to Crimea on paid sections of M-4 has become more expensive by 600 rubles. The Avtodor state company has launched two new routes, allowing to bypass Rostov-on-Don and Krasnodar. This will save more than two hours of time, but due to the high price, many will prefer to go on a free alternative, experts say. Next year, another road to the Crimean bridge will appear, bypassing Krasnodar. It will shorten the road trip by another three hours, but it will also be paid.

On Thursday morning, traffic was opened on two new sections of the M-4 Don highway, which the Avtodor state company has been building for the past few years. The first is the eastern bypass of Rostov-on-Don and its satellite town Aksai. At this point, the M-4 used to pass through the city, so auto travelers had to stand in traffic jams. Now there is an alternative – a 35-kilometer six-lane detour with a speed limit of 110 km/h. The second section is the far western bypass of Krasnodar, four lanes 51 km long.

Both roads are paid. The fare for each costs 300 rubles. for passenger cars, for trucks and buses – up to 900 rubles. (depending on the vehicle class); Rates are the same regardless of the time of day or day.

And if yesterday the full journey from Moscow to Crimea cost 2.88 thousand rubles for the owner of a passenger car. (3.5 thousand rubles on weekends and holidays), now – 3.48 thousand rubles. (4.1 thousand rubles on weekends and holidays).

Avtodor indicates that in return, car owners will save more than two hours when traveling from Moscow to the Crimea: 54 minutes will give a bypass of Aksai, 79 minutes – a bypass of Krasnodar.

Opening the sections, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin noted that the M-4 highway is the “main artery” that provides communication with new regions. The bypass of Aksai on the M-4 is itself part of the Rostov ring (it is now 88% complete), said the governor of the Rostov region Vasily Golubev. Motorists moving towards the Azov coast and the Crimea will no longer need to stand in Krasnodar traffic jams, said the Governor of the Krasnodar Territory Veniamin Kondratiev.

The general director of the Dolphin tour operator, Sergey Romashkin, believes that the reduction in travel time will have a positive impact on the tourist flow. And we are talking not only about travelers going to the Crimea, but also those who are going to relax in the Krasnodar Territory, the expert says. It should be noted that according to the Federal State Statistics Service for Crimea and Sevastopol, in January-April, the flow of tourists to the region reached 752.5 thousand trips, which is 28% higher than in the same period last year. However, according to the results of the first five months of the year, representatives of the tourist industry record a decrease in the flow of tourists to the peninsula, says Mr. Romashkin. Official statistical data may take into account private trips of residents of the region, the expert does not exclude. However, the dynamics at the end of the year may change: the majority of travelers visit Crimea in May-September. According to the estimates of the Ministry of Resorts and Tourism of the Republic, 81% of guests in 2022 visited the region by car (against 61% in 2021). Avtodor this year registers a 17% increase in traffic on certain sections of the M-4 (compared to 2022) and expects the dynamics to continue.

Piotr Shkumatov, coordinator of the Blue Buckets movement, draws attention to the fact that the average budget of an ordinary family for a vacation in Crimea (including travel, rental housing, food and entertainment) is approximately 100-120 thousand rubles.

If you go on a toll road, then taking into account gasoline and rest with food (and, possibly, an overnight stay), the round trip along the M-4 will now cost about 30-32 thousand rubles. In fact, this is 30% of all planned spending.

“It’s already very expensive. I think that many will start bypassing paid sections to save money, using the road network of the same Aksai, Krasnodar, and so on,” Mr. Shkumatov believes. gardens.”

Work on the M-4, meanwhile, continues. In the city of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky (Rostov Region), Avtodor is reconstructing a bridge across the Seversky Donets River, the work is expected to be completed in December. Rosavtodor (Federal Highway Agency) is building a 119-kilometer four-lane road connecting the new Krasnodar bypass and the approach to the Crimean bridge. It will be possible to drive along it at a speed of 90 km/h, bypassing numerous settlements and narrow regional roads of the Krasnodar Territory. The track, which will be launched in 2024, will save another three hours on the road, the department promises. Subsequently, the road will most likely be paid (it will be handed over to Avtodor): the authorities do not officially talk about this, but this follows from the published tenders. Rates are not yet known. The head of the Ministry of Transport, Vitaly Savelyev, said on Thursday that in 2024, thanks to the new sections, there will be completely traffic-free traffic from Vyborg to Sevastopol (2.7 thousand km).

As for the M-4 section from Krasnodar to the Black Sea coast, last week Avtodor launched full-fledged traffic on the Goryachiy Klyuch-Dzhubga section (before that, due to repairs, travel was carried out according to the reverse scheme). In perspective, as recently told “Kommersant”, the state-owned company wants to build a new toll road to Sochi, which, perhaps, will start right from Goryachiy Klyuch. So far, there is only a pre-design solution, which requires about 1.5 trillion rubles.

Buranov Ivan, Alexandra Mertsalova