It's better for autotourists to prepare in advance
There are a few days left until the first summer month, the first autotourists are drawn to the south. Including in the Crimea. What awaits motorists on the way to the peninsula? How is the control of vehicles at the entrance to the Crimean bridge organized? The correspondent of «MK» experienced it for himself, having overcome 1700 kilometers from Moscow to Feodosia.
The route has been worked out for a long time. Before spending the night in Kushchevka, in the Krasnodar Territory, along the M4 Don toll road. There are no queues at the payment points yet. Well, the holiday season hasn't started yet.
The pay has gone up. If three years ago it was possible to keep within about a thousand «re», now at ten points of payment in total it was necessary to leave more than three thousand.
It's a pity for the money, of course. Although what the fees are for can be seen along the entire length of the route — on the sides of the road there are an army of lawn mowers, teams of asphalt pavers patching the road after winter every 10-20 kilometers.
But there is a problem with normal toilets in recreation areas. They appear only outside Voronezh. Until then, it is better to be patient in order to save shoes and sense of smell. Well, or use the services of network gas stations. Everything is fine with this business there.
The fact that it is better to pay a bribe to the road builders, but to drive along a well-groomed road, you can once again be convinced when entering the Rostov region. They don’t take a fee there, but all the charms of single-lane traffic are obvious: you have to forget about driving at speed, overtaking is also prohibited, you drive in the general stream with trucks. And all because of the fact that large sections of the track are closed for major repairs.
The better the roads, the less accidents. Not a single accident was seen throughout the day. But as soon as the toll road is over — please, two emergency situations at once, including one with an overturned truck. Perhaps complicated the traffic situation and torrential downpour. So, when choosing a trip time and route, it is better to refer to the online precipitation map and weather forecasts in advance.
At gas stations, due to the not very large flow of cars, there is no hype either. Moscow prices — more than 50 rubles per liter. Taking into account the full refueling, before leaving the capital, on the highway, I had to hit the gas station one and a half more times, for a total of about 5 thousand rubles.
It is better not to allow the fuel level sensor to the red mark. The fact is that many sections of the toll road were put into operation not so long ago and the companies selling fuel have not yet equipped their points on them. By the way, this also applies to the Tavrida highway in the Crimea, gas stations are just being built there. Many motorists refuel at a large gas station already in front of the Krymsky bridge, because of which there may be queues at this gas station, so it’s better to fill up a full tank early somewhere in the Kuban.
After Kuschevka, the navigator chose the path to Kerch — “gardens” — through the villages of Leningradskaya, Kanevskaya, Bryukhovetskaya, etc., and not along the toll road to Krasnodar, and then to Temryuk. This is surprising, since usually the navigator imposes a paid service.
In principle, the navigator did not disappoint. True, there is one “but” — riding through the villages is still a pleasure. A little gape — and that's it, the limit of 40 km has been exceeded, wait for a «letter of happiness» from the traffic police upon returning home. Well, at least the same navigator warns about CCTV cameras.
A normal, four-lane highway to the Crimean bridge in the Kuban is just being built. They promise to finish in a few years. Then the trip to the Crimea will take two hours less.
And finally, the long-awaited exit from the «temporary hut» to the «Tavrida» highway. She is five years old, but she is like new. Fifty kilometers of driving happiness, and the inspection point is already visible ahead.
Saturday, the time is relatively early — about ten in the morning. There are not so many cars to enter the Crimea — there are several dozen cars in the queue. As you know, after the October terrorist attack, when a truck filled with explosives damaged several spans, more and more heavy trucks go to the ferry crossing «Crimea — Caucasus» and only get to Kerch from there.
The queue moves quickly. It is being destroyed by an armed officer of departmental security.
«Do you have many things?» he asks me as my car approached him. I answer no. He immediately hands me a number plate of a certain color and directs the car to the next guard.
This one is also armed — a short-barreled small-sized machine gun is on his stomach. After it, the column of cars is distributed into several streams — to the inspection area, depending on how many things are in the car.
At each mini-checkpoint, of which there are at least five, there are several employees. They work promptly. I get a meticulous middle-aged man in uniform. At his request, I open everything in the car that can only be opened — from the hood to the glove compartment. The engine is carefully examined, as is the belly of the car.
The trunk has to be completely unloaded to show where the spare tire is. Not a single bag or package was left without attention.
«Are you carrying weapons?» is obviously a standard question. The answer is the same. Finally, the inspection procedure is completed. I receive a red card, which I give to the extreme guard at the exit from the checkpoint. All.
The procedure itself took five minutes. Plus the time in the queue — a total of 20-25 minutes. A little. What will happen when the flow of cars to the Crimea will grow many times — a separate issue. I would like to hope that the guards of the bridge will come up with something so that the time in queues does not increase by a factor too. After all, many people go to Crimea with small children.
On the bridge itself, the place of the October explosion is almost invisible. The color of the roadway at the site of a recent repair is slightly different.
The fact that a vigilant inspection of a car at the entrance to the Crimea is not someone's whim, but an objective necessity, and the fact that the peninsula is in a special position today, unpleasantly resembles a strip of anti-tank barriers, which, obviously, appeared quite recently at the entrance to Feodosia from the side Kerch.
Don't know what it's like the military significance of this object, but it definitely has a psychological impact.
The sea in Crimea is still cold, the sun still needs to try to bring it to the desired condition. But all the other Crimean charms are at your service — marvelous landscapes, magical air and early fruits and vegetables in abundance.