The Russian route R297 or the Amur Highway (so named after the nearby
Amur River) is a
federal highway Federal Highways and Federal Routes can be found in:
*Australia: Federal Highway
*Brazil: Brazilian Federal Highway and Brazilian Highway System
*Germany: ''Bundesstraßen''
*Malaysia: Federal Highway and Malaysian Federal Roads System
*Mexic ...
in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
, part of the
Trans-Siberian Highway
The Trans-Siberian Highway is the unofficial name for a network of federal highways that span the width of Russia from the Baltic Sea of the Atlantic Ocean to the Sea of Japan. In the Asian Highway Network, the route is known as AH6. It stretche ...
. With a length of , it is the longest segment, from
Chita to
Khabarovsk, connecting the paved roads of
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
with those of the
Russian Far East
The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admin ...
. The construction of the road united the
Russian federal highways
Russian federal highways ( rus, автомобильные дороги федерального значения Российской Федерации, r=avtomobil’nyye dorogi federal’nogo znacheniya Rossiyskoy Federatsii; lit. ''highwa ...
into a single system stretching from
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
to
Vladivostok
Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...
. Before completion of the road, the Russian Pacific coast was connected to the rest of the country only by airlines, the
Trans-Siberian Railway
The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the ea ...
, and the
Baikal–Amur Mainline
The Baikal–Amur Mainline (russian: Байкало-Амурская магистраль, , , ) is a broad-gauge railway line in Russia. Traversing Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, the -long BAM runs about 610 to 770 km (380 to 4 ...
.
[Vince, Austin; Bloom, Louis et al. (2006) ''Mondo Enduro''. Ripping Yarns.com. .]
For most of its route, the highway parallels the
China–Russia border
The Chinese–Russian border or the Sino-Russian border is the international border between China and Russia. After the final demarcation carried out in the early 2000s, it measures , and is the world's sixth-longest international border.
The Ch ...
at a distance of . , it still included
unpaved
A road surface (British English), or pavement (American English), is the durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain vehicular or foot traffic, such as a road or walkway. In the past, gravel road surfaces, hoggin, cobble ...
sections. It traverses the sparsely populated regions of
Zabaykalsky Krai
Zabaykalsky Krai ( rus, Забайкальский край, r=Zabaikal'skii krai, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲskʲɪj kraj, lit. " Transbaikal krai"; bua, Yбэр Байгалай хизаар, Uber Baigalai Xizaar) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai ...
,
Amur Oblast
Amur Oblast ( rus, Аму́рская о́бласть, r=Amurskaya oblast, p=ɐˈmurskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya Rivers in the Russian Far East. The administrat ...
,
Jewish Autonomous Oblast
The Jewish Autonomous Oblast (JAO; russian: Евре́йская автоно́мная о́бласть, (ЕАО); yi, ייִדישע אװטאָנאָמע געגנט, ; )In standard Yiddish: , ''Yidishe Oytonome Gegnt'' is a federal subject ...
, and
Khabarovsk Krai.
Early history
The most problematic stretch of the highway lies between
Chita and
Khabarovsk. The first section of this route, linking
Belogorsk Belogorsk or Bilohirsk (russian: Белогорск; uk, Білогірськ) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia and Ukraine.
;Urban localities
*Belogorsk, Amur Oblast, a town in Amur Oblast; administratively incorporated as a ...
to
Blagoveshchensk
Blagoveshchensk ( rus, Благове́щенск, p=bləgɐˈvʲeɕːɪnsk, meaning ''City of the Annunciation'') is a city and the administrative center of Amur Oblast, Russia. It is located at the confluence of the Amur and the Zeya Rivers, o ...
( in length), was constructed by
gulag
The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...
inmates as early as 1949.
In 1966, the
Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union ordered the construction of the -long Chita-Khabarovsk highway, which would run through
permafrost-covered soil and mountainous areas. After a long feasibility study, construction began in 1978. The Soviet
Road Troops
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
began constructing the highway. Due to the difficulty of the natural conditions, after nearly 20 years of construction only had been built, around Chita, Blagoveshchensk, and Khabarovsk. The road from Chita to Khabarovsk at that time, in the mid-1990s, consisted largely of undeveloped
taiga
Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruc ...
glades that were passable only in winter.
On May 24, 1995, the government of the Russian Federation passed a resolution "On accelerating the construction of the Chita-Khabarovsk federal road." Shortly thereafter, another of the highway was completed. In September 2001, the
Russian Ministry of Transport increased funding for the project significantly in order to bring it toward completion, allocating 26% of the entire federal transportation budget to the highway. By 2002, the road became technically passable for the first time (with major difficulties, see next section), and 500-700 cars per day began to use it.
As part of the Asian route
AH31, the road completed the connection from
Belogorsk Belogorsk or Bilohirsk (russian: Белогорск; uk, Білогірськ) is the name of several inhabited localities in Russia and Ukraine.
;Urban localities
*Belogorsk, Amur Oblast, a town in Amur Oblast; administratively incorporated as a ...
to
Dalian in
China.
The Zilov Gap
The section of the Chita–Khabarovsk road known as the Zilov Gap was largely unfinished until 2010
[ ] and was known during the semiannual
mud seasons to be notoriously difficult to traverse. Traveling a distance of could take as long as three hours, and the route involved numerous serious river crossings.
It posed a major challenge to long-distance overland expeditions and nearly caused the end of the
Mondo Enduro expedition.
The
Long Way Round
''Long Way Round'' (''LWR'') is a British television series and book documenting the journey of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman from London to New York City on motorcycles. They travelled eastwards through Europe and Asia, flew to Alaska, ...
trip avoided it altogether. Motorcyclist Jim Oliver traveled the entire route in May–June 2004 and described massive marshes, gravel, rock, mud, sand,
washboarding
Washboarding or corrugation
is the formation of periodic, transverse ripples in the surface of gravel and dirt roads. Washboarding occurs in dry, granular road material
with repeated traffic, traveling at speeds above . Washboarding creates an ...
, potholes, stream fording, and detours along the elusive highway, with a noticeable absence of pavement. Many motorcyclists were injured or killed trying to "master" the Amur Highway.
To avoid the gap, drivers would typically load their cars onto the
Trans-Siberian Railroad
The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the eas ...
at
Chernyshevsk for the 800-km trip to
Magdagachi
Magdagachi (russian: Магдага́чи) is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Magdagachinsky District of Amur Oblast, Russia, located northwest of Blagoveshchensk. Population:
History
It was estab ...
.
In 2010, the highway was paved, including the "Zilov Gap" section.
Completion of the highway
![Putin drives a yellow Lada through the Amur Highway 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Putin_drives_a_yellow_Lada_through_the_Amur_Highway_1.jpeg)
In early 2004, Russian President
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
symbolically opened the Amur Highway, with great swaths of forest separating major portions from one another. At this time, large sections of the highway were still dirt or
crushed stone
Crushed stone or angular rock is a form of construction aggregate, typically produced by mining a suitable rock deposit and breaking the removed rock down to the desired size using crushers. It is distinct from naturally occurring gravel, which i ...
roads.
[''Photos of new road from Khabarovsk to Chita'' (archived)](_blank)
/ref>
From 2008-2010, 35 billion ruble
The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union.
, currencies named ''rub ...
s (roughly US$1.05 billion in 2009) were allocated to complete paving of the highway. The ''St. Petersburg Times'' reported in September 2010 that paving had been completed. At a videoconference marking the event, Putin described it as "a dependable, modern farm road, but not the Autobahn
The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...
." Shortly afterward, a memorial marker for the "Zero kilometer of the Chita-Khabarovsk Federal Highway" was installed in Lenin Square, Khabarovsk, marking the final completion of the 40-year construction project.
Today, the Chita–Khabarovsk road is a modern paved highway
A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-acces ...
with painted, reflective lane-lines.
Major junctions and cities traversed
* Chita
* A360 Lena Highway
A360 Lena Highway or The Amur-Yakutsk Highway (russian: Амуро-Якутская автомобильная дорога or russian: Амуро-Якутская автомагистраль) is a federal highway in Sakha Republic (Yakutia) in R ...
to Yakutsk
Yakutsk (russian: Якутск, p=jɪˈkutsk; sah, Дьокуускай, translit=Djokuuskay, ) is the capital city of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one ...
* Birobidzhan
Birobidzhan ( rus, Биробиджа́н, p=bʲɪrəbʲɪˈdʐan; yi, ביראָבידזשאַן, ''Birobidzhan'') is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Russia, locat ...
* Khabarovsk, via the Khabarovsk Bridge
Khabarovsk Bridge is a road and rail bridge built in 1999. It crosses the Amur River in eastern Russia, and connects the urban-type settlement of Imeni Telmana in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast with the city of Khabarovsk in Khabarovsk Krai. Until ...
* A370 highway to Vladivostok
Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...
Gallery
File:Трасса Амур 6.JPG, View of the Amur Highway, 2015
File:Автодорога в зимнее время. Район села Тахтамыгда Амурской области.jpg, Amur Highway in winter near the village of Takhtamygda, 2010
File:Amurbridge2.jpg, Khabarovsk Bridge
Khabarovsk Bridge is a road and rail bridge built in 1999. It crosses the Amur River in eastern Russia, and connects the urban-type settlement of Imeni Telmana in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast with the city of Khabarovsk in Khabarovsk Krai. Until ...
at the far eastern end of the highway, constructed in 1999.
See also
*
References
{{Authority control
Roads in Siberia