Roads in Ukraine

We use rental cars in Ukraine and we can describe the quality of Ukrainian roads by our own experience and the effects of operation of vehicles on the roads of our country. Condition of roads became even more depressing than it was before 2014 the beginning of the war in the east of Ukraine. Many local roads can  be called only directions to connect cities and other human settlements. Number of potholes on main highways of national significance strikes imagination and these appear very quickly as a result of withdrawal from the technology of laying and repair. The main reason for the poor quality of construction and repair of roads is a banal theft as considerable part of the budget allocated for materials and work spent on kickbacks and "deriban". Pours a layer of gravel coating becomes thinner, the number of layers of asphalt smaller and thinner than that provided under the project and the technological cycle.

The consequences of vehicle drive on such roads may be different. The minimal damage could be bent rims, short life of suspension parts, windscreen broken by flying stones from potholes, damaged paint and anti-corrosion coating of the car body. There could be severe damages as car out from the road vehicle on high speed and multiple rotations through the roof because of the huge holes in the pavement filled with water and mud after a rain. Such accidents are fraught with human casualties. But the road servicemen are not in a hurry to clean up the roadway after the damage by the winter temperature drops and the destructive action of expanding upon freezing ice.

All attempts of our state to change the quality of road construction and maintenance activities resemble a dog that chases its own tail.  There is noise, action and a lot of efforts around and the result can be easily predicted in advance. Apparently a lot of interested parties exist which manage all this mess and they are interested in the existing system and the income from it.

Despite the declared by Ukrainian government way to European standards and reforms on paper, roads in Ukraine at the beginning of 2016 look as if the fighting zone extended to the entire country. Huge potholes are on roadway, after the artillery and mortar fire, located in all regions of the country, without exception. Positive government declarations are good, but it is advisable also to do something useful, and not just talk.