Russia in ten years

[DanS]

" its simple. first of all, have you ever driven in michigan or canada? the winter months are brutal to asfault. the problem is one of upkeep. even after you build 7000 miles of ribbon, how do you upkeep it for more than a year? Russia simply doesn't have the money for that."

The Trans-Canada highway goes to about 55 degrees N, but admittedly this is where the weather is least harsh. Alaska has a partial highway system (Eastern 1/2), that I guess is bounded on the West by glaciers. Route 9 goes all the way to Prudhoe Bay (70 degrees North), but much isn't paved, so I guess it can be done in some situations. If the highway were to stay at about 50-55 degrees North, perhaps it could be done. Here's a funny page...

http://www.saabclub.com/238/alaska.htm

If it's not the Russian way, I can accept that, but I really wonder how Russia could develop any sort of flexible light industry and therefore a diversified economy in Siberia with such heavy reliance on rail.

I would suggest that integration of Siberia into the rest of Russia proper should be one of Russia's highest priorities. But I guess 7 days from Beijing to Moscow isn't so bad...

"its a good 1 day's travel between civilization often times, with absolutely nothing but wilderness in between. just carrying enough fuel with you can be a problem."

Well, you could always build gas stations, restaurants, and hotels along the way.

[DanS]

Thanks for the explanation re residency permits.

" I think the reason it still exists is because, A) everyone wants to move to Moscow, it officially has a population of 9 million based on the propiska's but in reality is closer to 12 or 13 million; B) its a way for the gov't burocrats to collect money."

(B) makes sense, but why would anybody care if everybody moves to Moscow?

[morb]

Originally posted by DanS
Thanks for the explanation re residency permits.

" I think the reason it still exists is because, A) everyone wants to move to Moscow, it officially has a population of 9 million based on the propiska's but in reality is closer to 12 or 13 million; B) its a way for the gov't burocrats to collect money."

(B) makes sense, but why would anybody care if everybody moves to Moscow?

this one is easier to answer so it goes first. Moscow is already over populated. some people are living in makeshift shaks on the outskirts of the city and many freeze to death on the strees every winter. basically russia isn't nearly as quick to respond to sudden population growth as places in the west. i think the gov't still does a lot of contract orders for buildings. burocrats will be burocrats and things take a while to develope.

[morb]

Originally posted by DanS
" its simple. first of all, have you ever driven in michigan or canada? the winter months are brutal to asfault. the problem is one of upkeep. even after you build 7000 miles of ribbon, how do you upkeep it for more than a year? Russia simply doesn't have the money for that."

The Trans-Canada highway goes to about 55 degrees N, but admittedly this is where the weather is least harsh. Alaska has a partial highway system (Eastern 1/2), that I guess is bounded on the West by glaciers. Route 9 goes all the way to Prudhoe Bay (70 degrees North), but much isn't paved, so I guess it can be done in some situations. If the highway were to stay at about 50-55 degrees North, perhaps it could be done. Here's a funny page...

http://www.saabclub.com/238/alaska.htm

If it's not the Russian way, I can accept that, but I really wonder how Russia could develop any sort of flexible light industry and therefore a diversified economy in Siberia with such heavy reliance on rail.

I would suggest that integration of Siberia into the rest of Russia proper should be one of Russia's highest priorities. But I guess 7 days from Beijing to Moscow isn't so bad...

"its a good 1 day's travel between civilization often times, with absolutely nothing but wilderness in between. just carrying enough fuel with you can be a problem."

Well, you could always build gas stations, restaurants, and hotels along the way.

as the saying goes on sahalin, june is not yet summer, july is not anylonger summer. the siberian climate is much more harsh than you probably realise. Alaska and canada don't compare climatically I think to siberia. the earth there is really sandy in a lot of places and most of siberia is one gigantic swamp. building roads that will stand up to harsh punishment for longer than a couple of years is really quit expensive. I'm almost sure it will happen to some degree in the future though.

as far as "gas stations and resteraunts," i figured you would say something like that. its the american idealogy of service, and its the correct one. but it doesn't apply to siberia in the present. first you need a decent amount of traffic for those gas stations and restarunts to be viable in the middle of nowhere. you need to build housing and other amanities for the people who would man these service outposts to live and actually attract them there. at this point its a chicken and egg situation because i don't think that many people would actually travel that far on their own partely because they don't need to and partly because it would be an arduous journey. plus not that many people there have cars that are actually new/reliable enough to safely undertake such a journey. at this point such a concept is an unessesary luxury.

Its much more efficient to move by rail if on a budget, or by air if you need expediency. there are daily flights to novosebirsk from all over the world. same with vladivostok and many cities in between. siberia is not as isolated as you may think, in either the communications or transportation sense. so there.

[morb]

also since you posted that one article about alaska, thought you might be interested in this C&D gem. its written by john phillips. that is unless you read it already.

I think iceland is a much better example of the kind of "highway" system russia will continue to have (and to a degree already has) in siberia.