The construction, maintenance and revitalisation of Russia’s road network remains a priority for the country. As such, vast sums are expected to be poured into the sector in the coming years. 
 

2016 will see record levels of  Federal money spent on the construction of rural roads. The Federal Road Transport Agency is planning on directing over 6.8 billion roubles, or roughly $104 million, in subsidiaries for regions where road networks linking remote settlements is less than adequate.
 

Funding for 600 kilometres of roads will be provided under this scheme.
 

Compared with the previous period, the amount of money spent on rural road construction has nearly doubled. 4 billion roubles from the 2015 Federal budget was allocated to rural regions with a further 3 billion roubles coming from regional budgets. 348 kilometres of road has been built so far. 
 

In total, over 36 billion roubles, or $548 billion, of investment is planned for the building of rural roads during the period 2017-2020. If these investment levels are realised, then over 720 kilometres of roads will be put into operation each year. The government has prioritised this construction initiative to further aid the development of rural areas as well as promoting entrepreneurship. 
 

Indeed, the planned number of roads outside of rural areas should be music to road construction machinery and material companies’ ears. For example, in 2015, it was announced by Marat Khusnullin, Moscow’s Deputy Mayor for Urban Development Policy and Construction, that the Moscow Ring Road reconstruction project alone would cost 100 billion roubles or $1.5 billion.
 

Moscow itself remains a hotbed of road construction activity. In March, 2016, a tender was announced by the Moscow Construction Department for a 2-6 lane road network at the site of the former ZIL plant. Overall, some 20 kilometres of new roads will be built over the next three years at the site for a projected cost of some 9.6 billion roubles which equates to just over $144 million in at the current exchange rate. 
 

A further public tender worth 1.3 billion roubles, or $20 million, was made available for bidders in March but this time for a slightly smaller project. The winning bidder will be obligated to carry out pavement repairs on Petrovka Street, Petrovsky Liniyi Street and Rakhmanov Side Street. Additionally, pedestrian areas and parking lots will have to be built plus 70 ramps and 150 bicycle parking facilities. 
 

This particular project sits within the framework of the “Moya Ulitsa” urban development plan. In 2015, 147 kilometres of pedestrian areas were developed under this scheme in Moscow. 70 streets and major highways are planned for re-construction and updating. 
 

As with the Winter Olympics in 2014, the 2018 FIFA World Cup looms large over Russian road construction. The rush to complete the M11 Moscow-Saint Petersburg motorway is heating up. Sergey Kalbach, the Board Director of Avatador, the state-owned corporation responsible for building the motorway, is confident the 669 kilometre road will be complete before the tournament begins in June, 2018.
 

Kalbach also mentioned that a modern “Don” motorway will be fully built by 2020. According to Russianconstruction.com, this mega-highway will connect Moscow to Voronezh, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar and Novorossiysk.
 

The Rostov region is also in need of new roads. Regional authorities are tendering out construction of a highway to the area’s Yuzhny Airport measuring 15.9 kilometres. Russianconstrucion.com reported that one kilometre of this planned road will cost 227 million roubles, $3.4 million, alone due to the need to replace and re-construct sections of gas pipeline. 
 

While these planned networks will be constructed using traditional means and machinery, so equipment and building materials companies are given space for expansion, but new ideas are always on the horizon. Pravda reported that Alexander Starovoytov, State Duma deputy from the LDPR faction, proposed to study the Netherland’s experience with plastic roads in April, 2016. 
 

A Dutch pilot project, led by a company called VolkerWessel, is currently exploring the possibilities of building roads using recycled plastics. The use of this material is said to save plenty of money while also providing an environmentally friendly solution to road construction. Longevity is also a further advantage of plastic. Roads could last for 30-40% longer when compared with modern asphalt networks. And networks could be built 2-3 times faster. 
 

As a completely new road surface, tests are being undertaken to establish the veracity of the project leader’s claims. If they are successful, the Dutch government plans to implement the material in 2018. Russia could soon follow suit.
 

Russia is committed to updating infrastructure links and this means building more roads across the country. Trade shows, such as InterStroyExpo held in St. Petersburg, provides road construction machinery and materials companies a platform to demonstrate their latest products to highly interested Russian parties.