«Cars from all Russian regions are in line»
The traffic jam in front of the Krymsky Bridge from the Krasnodar Territory on the morning of July 4 decreased from 13 kilometers to 4. It is reported that the queue for the checkpoint control cost about 1500 cars. It is clear that the situation will change, ahead of the weekend, as well as the peak of the holiday season. Those who have already crossed the bridge gave advice to vacationers on what to take with them in case of getting into a traffic jam, what can be carried in luggage, and how best to pack for inspection.
Photo: EMERCOM of the Russian Federation
“Firstly, we advise everyone to immediately take care of booking accommodation if you are traveling to the Crimea from afar and plan to stay somewhere for the night,” says Muscovite Mary. There were three adults in the car. The strategic plan was to drive up to the checkpoint in front of the Crimean bridge at dawn. We focused on chat messages in Telegram channels, where people shared information.
But the flow of tourists has increased dramatically. If not to say — like an avalanche. At nine in the evening we were in Slavyansk-on-Kuban, we decided to take a break. But it turned out that the hotels were full, with great difficulty we found a room in a guest house on the outskirts. The administrator said that the next departure from the guests is scheduled for 3.30 am.
We decided to leave an hour earlier, at 2.30. At the beginning of the fifth, we drove to the last gas station in front of the bridge, drove on literally a kilometer and got stuck in a traffic jam, the length of which in the early morning was about 7 km. We arrived at the checkpoint at 10.14.
Earlier, there was an acute issue with toilets, but now it has been resolved. Cabins are placed every 350 meters.
We found toilets, but we did not come across volunteers with bottles of water. Then they realized that it was necessary to ask for water from the employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, who were on duty near the fire trucks. We advise everyone who has gathered in the Crimea by car to stock up on gasoline, water and food. You can spend 6 hours or even more in a traffic jam.
We talked with tourists in the queue, who said that they lined up at the end of the queue at 23:00, and only at 6:00 in the morning they arrived at the control point. The situation there is complicated. This is despite the fact that the local administration has already blocked part of the adjacent roads, the flow of cars is now launched only along one route.
There are a lot of vehicles, and the climatic conditions are not easy, it’s hot.
How tourists say that before entering the checkpoint there is an inspector who asks a few clarifying questions about the composition of your luggage. Depending on the answers, it issues instructions whether to move you to a manual search or follow a scanner to a separate building.
“They send for X-rays if you have a lot of bags, boxes, trunks, cartons, shopping bags, the car is packed to the very ceiling,” says Oleg, who went to Alupka to rest with his family from Murmansk. — There, the car is simply driven entirely into a special installation and scanned. But you have to wait one more line. It is much faster to go through a manual inspection.
Therefore, I would advise you to have three or four pieces of large luggage that could be easily taken out of the trunk and transferred to the trailer on the tape. You will have to walk literally 5-6 meters. Screening is about the same as at the airport.
Manual inspection, according to the stories of tourists, is quite fast.
— It takes about 10-12 minutes, says Mary. — This is if you act in an organized manner, listen to what the inspector says, and do everything clearly.
The owner of a makeshift motorhome based on a cargo van shared that he managed to pass a manual search without any problems.
— They said that we didn’t have a lot of things, they took out backpacks, the rest was left in the car. In the cabinets — things, dishes, scooters. The screening went fairly quickly. They didn't pick on anything.
By the way, employees of departmental security of the Ministry of Transport work on control. This transport crossing is the jurisdiction of the federal authorities.
“No one will break you through the bases for debts,” says Vasily, who went on vacation with friends from St. Petersburg to Koktebel. — They will not count how many bottles of vodka or whiskey you carry with you. They will not ask for documents for a cat or a dog.
For security personnel, one thing is important — whether you have any dangerous chemicals or explosives in your luggage. We showed gas canisters for the tourist stove, but after checking everything we let them through. The guys shared that there are no questions about either spearguns or pneumatics.
Now there are 80 inspection points on the mainland. A few days ago, for example, there were about 60 of them.
“At the same time, dozens of cars are indeed being searched,” says Mary. — But the influx of tourists is so large that there are clearly not enough checkpoints. After all, mostly budget tourists travel by private transport. There will be more and more of them.
Meanwhile, the Crimeans, who cannot get home for a long time, curse vacationers.
— Why go by car to Crimea when there is such a “traffic jam”? one of the inhabitants of the peninsula is indignant. “They are setting up the locals. I went to Anapa on business, and now I'm stuck in front of the bridge for 6 hours. Where is the logic of vacationers?
Elena, who lives in Feodosia, is returning from a business trip.
— Three children at home. I expected to be there by the evening, now I will arrive late at night, if not in the morning,” the woman says.
The locals sigh: “It is harder to get home during the season than to fly to India.”
You can also understand vacationers. There are cars in the queue from all Russian regions. For example, Andrey, who is traveling with his family to Alushta from Chelyabinsk, says that he booked a place in a boarding house back in February and made an advance payment.
We drove for two and a half days to the bridge. We, what now, turn back, abandon the planned vacation? — says our interlocutor.
They got into a traffic jam at 3.40 in the morning, and drove onto the bridge after 10.
— It’s hard, of course, to stand in a traffic jam, and even with two children, but we are used to traveling by car. We treat such a thorough inspection in front of the Crimean bridge with understanding. This is done for our own safety.
In the chats of the Telegram channels, they are actively discussing an alternative route to the Crimea through new territories along the Veselo-Voznesensk-Mariupol-Armyansk route.
— A normal route, friends travel along it a couple of times a week, says Mikhail from Crimea. — There is a section with an unimportant road before and after Armyansk, but in general the road is good.
Someone suggested that we could unite and try to drive to the Crimea through Melitopol with five to ten cars. But this idea did not find a response. So far, tourists prefer to enter the peninsula through the Crimean bridge, although they get stuck in a multi-kilometer traffic jam.