alexander aksakov photography

# The State of Highway (2004-2009)
eng | rus

When you are on the highway everything changes: the sights, weather, people. It's like getting into another worl without prejudices of city life, dictated laws, problems and without constaint of mind.

The lenght of Russian roads is about 905 000 km, but it's not enough for the biggest country in the world. Highways are mostly developed in the European part of Russia, but at the same time Siberia and the Far East of the country are connected with the capital with only one road. This string goes nearby the Chinese and Mongolian boards. According to the officials, the length of Russian roads is going to double in the nearest future. But now lots of villages and even towns remain inaccessible and the only way to get there is to go there in winter.

In spite of bad condition of Russian roads everyday people travel all around the country. Some do business, some go on holiday or just travel. And everybody gets into another space separated from the real state.

Highway is another state. It's an enclave.

note: i began this project in 2004. but it turned over that the best shots were done in 2009 during my two month trip from Syktyvkar to Vladivostok and back; and 2-week trip to Abkhazia. it's a long-term project, so i used both digital and film cameras. the project will be continued.

In 2009 long distances of the highway in the Far East weren't covered with asphalt. (Chita-Khabarovsk auto-route, 2009)

A hauler. (Komi Republic, 2009)

In 2008 roads in the Kirov oblast were in bad condition, so the drivers could only move on the side of the road. (Kirov oblast, 2008)

A driver fixes lights on his Kamaz. Some years ago Kamaz was the main working horse for haulers in Russia, but during the last few years lots of European and American trucks appeared. Although they are more reliable and comfortable, not all haulers are ready to drive such a truck, because kamaz drivers sometimes get higher salaries. (Siberia, 2009)

Truck drivers often stop trucks close for a night. Many prefer sleep in trucks, economising. If drivers don't have chance to stay overnight at guarded parking, they, usually in familiar places, park several trucks close to one another and stay overnight in such way. (Vologda region, 2007)

Earth-road. In Russia out of 905 thousand km of roads 145,4 thousand are earth ones. (Leningrad region, 2007)

Vasiliy and his friends hire a flat in St. Petersburg, but most of the time he lives in his own Volvo truck. His wife lives in Ukraine and he travels all around Russia delivering orders to clients. (Perm-Yekaterinburg route, 2009)

A driver pees on a side of a road. (Altai region, 2009).

A kamaz driver Ivan drinks coffee on a wheel. (Irkutsk region, 2009)

182 481 car accidents happened in Russia in 2010. Crashed trucks and goods in a ditch is a sight can be seen very often. Usually it happens when drivers fell asleep while driving. They have to have a short sleep, cause they need to deliver as much orders as they can to earn more money. In winter accidents can happen because of weather. (Krasnoyarsky region, 2009)

Many prefer sleeping in trucks, economising. If drivers don't have chance to stay overnight at guarded parking, they, usually in familiar places, park several trucks close to one another and stay overnight in such way. (Siberia, 2009)

A man drinks beer while driving. Some people don't think it's really dangerous to drive drunk, although in 2009 alcohol was the reason of 2 217 deaths and 18 206 injuries on roads (Altai region, 2009)

Traffic policeman fills in a warning form for me. Notwithstanding government members' statements on total fight against corruption traffic policemen on the road is a driver's headache. In some regions asking bribe from a driver is absolutely normal. Long distance truckers especially suffer from racket.They often have to pass load control with an overload truck. They have no options - customers make them carry more. (Komi Republic, 2007)

Mikhail travels through Siberia. He's a geologist and on vacations he visits his friends. (Krasnoyarsk, 2009)

Sergei is a truck driver. He delivers cars for sell. In spite of road infrastructure is developed in the western par of Russia, lots of haulers still prefer to sleep in car and make food right there economizing. (Novosibirsky region, 2009)

A driver makes a pipette with "spice". Sometimes drivers relax smoking ganja or things like "spice" (Russia, 2009)

A hauler drives his truck in the night. European standarts direct drivers to have rest for some time. It's controlled with special registering devices. People say that such rules are going to be set in Russia as well. Of course, truck drives are discontended with this fact, because they have to have less sleep to spend less time for one client. They need to deliver as much orders as they can to earn for living. Such night drives usually cause accidents, but some haulers don't pay attention to it. (Kirov-Perm auto-route, 2009)

A prostitute near a cafe. Women from small villages sometimes have no oppurtunity to earn for living, so they start working as prostitutes. It's not difficult to find such a woman in the western part of Russia. Their services cost from 100 (approx. $3) to 600 (approx. $20) roubles depending on the work they do. As they say, no one like this kind of job, but they cannot get money by ony other way. (Kirov region, 2009)

A woman sells vegetables not far from road cafe. To sell vegetables from own garden is a usual thing on the road. There is a huge amount of similar tents, especially in summer. Trade starts with the first fruits and ends with winter coming. Of course, such trade points don't disappear in winter and some people still come out selling, but their number decreases in times. The prices for products are naturally set lower than for shop ones. Frequent customers of such trade points are tourists or town citizens passing by. (Vladivostok - Khabarovsk auto-route, 2009)

Long distance trucker fills a truck with petrol. For economy sake truckers often buy fuel from country men, not at official petrol stations. Several years ago it was common to use the following strategy: a person economizes on fuel (for example, tractor or truck driver), comes on the roadside and either through radio-set or with specific hand sign (thumb directed to the ground) signals on solar oil. Now this situation is slowly changing and in some regions low price fuel sell is organized at a higher level. The men in the picture have come to the agreed place by phone call and pour fuel into the towing car tank. Prices in such cases of refilling a car are usually 1,5-2 times lower than at petrol stations. (Khabarovsk-Tchita auto route, 2009)

A worker of a filling station. Lots of drivers claim that lots of gas is of low quality. (Saratov oblast, 2008)

Sergey is from Mumansk. He hitchhikes from Murmanks to Vladivostok. He's dumb and he suffers from cerebral palsy. Sergey travels on his own and communicates with drivers by writing in a notepad, but when it gets dark in the night he uses a mobile phone - he writes sms and shows it to driver. He runs his own blog. (Kirov, 2009)

A hitchhiker stops a car. Hitchhikers on roads of Russia are of different age (15-65 years old), different social status and sex. (Kemerovo region, 2009)

A family walk down the road. To get to another village some people have to walk straight to the destination point or to the nearest bus station. (Kirov oblast, 2008)

Sasha has a rest in a cafe. Sasha is from Uzbekistan. He and his friends drive passanger buses from Yekaterinburg to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (about 6 500 km). They're going to use them as taxi buses. (Amur region, 2009)

Some drivers prefer to eat in cafes. On an average the bill is about 150 roubles per person (approx. $5). Cost of a lunch depends on region and quality of services and food in cafe. Usually people from nearest villages work there. (Komi Republic, 2009)

A seller in a shop. (Primorsky kray, 2009)

A worker of a road-building brigade. As people (and some experts) say the technology of building roads in Russia is very expensive and not efficient. But highways are still build like that. Asphalt can be set up during snow and rain, and it of course destroys the road, so it's ruined in a year (Kirov-Kotelnich route, 2009)

The sign "Moscow - Vlaivostok" in the Far East of Russia. The length of auto-route is about 9.000 km. In some places the route goes close to Kazakhstan and China border covering such cities as Ekaterinburg, Novossibirsk, Omsk, Tchita and others. In eastern part of Russia traffic is significantly smaller: it is affected by hideous road condition in some places, lack of road infrastructure and other factors. In recent years еру the number of cafes, petrol stations and motels in the Far East has decreased a lot, affected by the measures on increase of customs fees on Japanese cars introduced by the government and bad road condition. With high rates for customs clearance of "Japanese" ferry flow has dropped, and that is they that have been the main source of income for road service facilities. The distance between a petrol station and a cafe sometimes surpass 200 km. (Moscow-Vladivostok, 2009)

Moscow is the main Russian traffic centre. The traffic from and to Moscow is very high, so the infrastructure is well developed. (Moscow, 2009)

Vasiliy. He hitchhikes from a village where his daughter lives back to Khabarovsk. He sometimes visits his daughter, but he has no opportunity to buy a bus ticket, so he has to hitchhike. (Amur oblast, 2009)

Cows. (Amur region, 2009)

Jenia. He's lost his documents and all IDs. When the pic was taken he worked in a cafe "Antaliya" not far from Mariinsk. The owner of the cafe didn't pay Jenia and rarely fed him. "He treats me worse than a dog,"-told Jenia. So he has to ask money from haulers and live in a stokehole. He says he cannot move anywhere, because this country doesn't need a man without documents. (not far from Mariinsk, 2009)

A man washes face in a cafe. People who drive a new car to their homes economize sleeping in car. (Amur region, 2009)

A traveller from Orenburg rides his bike to Baikal. (Irkutsk region, 2009)

Motorcyclers get ready for a ride. The Far East is an extreme route for most of the drivers. A number of travellers from Australia travel around the world on their bikes. (Far East, 2009)

A road sign with traces of a shot. It's possible to see such signs shot by residents. (not far from village of Erofey Pavlovich, Russia, 2009)

Traffic cops check drivers documents. Although the officials claim about struggle against corruption, traffic cops is a headache for drivers. In some regions it's common when cops require bribes. In most cases haulers suffer, because their clients overload the truck, so the only way to pass a weight control station without troubles is to give a bribe. Sometimes cops require money without a reason. One hauler says: "A demon (a traffic cop) comes to me. I open the door. He smiles and says: "The Tax Inspectorate." So, I give him 50 roubles (approx. $1.5) and drive away." (Primorsky kray, 2009)

A driver pays for using a toll highway. Toll highways appear in Russia. Drivers say that the road itself isn't always better than ordinary highway, but traffic is lower and it takes less time to get to the destination point. (Lipetsk region, 2007)

As people (and some experts) say the technology of building roads in Russia is very expensive and not efficient. But highways are still build like that. Asphalt can be set up during snow and rain, and it of course destroys the road, so it's ruined in a year (Kirov-Kotelnich route, 2009)

Vova (right) and Denis (left) move their cars from Nerungry to Krasnoyarsk to sell on a local car market. Krasnoyarsk car market is one of the biggest in Russia. It's common when a person sells car and at the same time buys new one and drives a new car back home. Most of people in Siberia and Far East prefer cars with right-sided steering wheels. Japanese cars are considered to be more reliable and comfortable than Russian ones. In Western par of the country people still drive left-sided cars. (not far from Irkutsk, 2009)

Jora is preparing a place to sleep. He used to live in Germany for a long time and he's a traveller. Now he lives in Kirov and builds a settlment for anastations (анастасийцы). When the picture was taken he was on the way to court in Saratov oblast. In one of his night journeys his had a car collision with a driver who had the lights turned off. The driver of that car and a passanger got injuries and tried to sue Jora. (Saratov oblast, 2008)

Road sign. (village of Tselinnoe, 2009)

A married couple drive their car in Altai. (Altai region, 2009)

Such market places can be met on the Far East. They appear out of nowhere. People sell herbal tea, cakes and home-distilled vodka. (Far East of Russia, 2009)

A rainbow. Road in Siberia goes straight through endless fields. Traffic is low, so drivers can move pretty fast. (Siveria, 2009)

A tire fitting shop on the Chita-Khabarovsk route. Tire fitting shops, cafes and shops are often run by ex-criminals who used to commit crimes on the roads in 1990-s, but then some of them started a kind of a "legal" business. (Chita-Khabarovsk route, 2009)

A driver fixes his car. Fedor runs his own business. He's got some shops in a number of cities. He delivers goods by himself. He doesn't want somebody as a driver, cause all his drivers used to steal clothes he sells. So now he works on his own with his wife doing bookkeeping. (Krasnodarsky region, 2009)

Yekaterinburg (2009)

Not all regions of Russia are covered with roads. For example, Komi Republic. After Vuktyl hightway ends and it's possible to get to Pechora only by ferry (or only in winter). Government's been promising to build a road to Vorkuta for 10 years already, but it seems like only promises. (Syktyvkar-Ukhta auto-route, 2009)

A gravestone. According to statistics in 2009 203 603 car accidents happened. (Baikal, 2009)

A road sign. (Chita, 2009)