It looks like it was not a winter, but a war. Such words you can hear from capital's drivers every spring. This spring is not an exception. You don't need to be a driver to estimate the quality of the road carpet. Almost all roads, except may be for Khreshchyatyk, Institutska and Grushevskogo, are full of potholes and hubs. "Kyivavtodor", responsible for road conditions in Kyiv, informed ForUm that from February 24 the company started "liquidation of dangerous potholeness" and pledges to complete works by May 1.

The cause of potholes is obvious - bad quality of road carper, but "Kyivavtodor" claims it is winter's fault. "Change of temperature, when water gets into cracks of the asphalt-concrete covering and then freezes, affects the road net and damages the carpet," the department said in response to ForUm's inquiry.

But here comes the question - do snowy winters and thaws happen only in Ukraine. Not quite. Countries of North Europe have seen worse winters than ours, but for sure they have never heard about "potholeness liquidation."

ForUm has taken a ride along the capital to estimate the damage, caused by winter.

We started the route from central district of Kyiv, Pecherski. And here is the first discovery - two huge potholes on Leskova Street. The street is popular with traffic, as there are Supreme Economic Court, Russian consulate and Pechersk market. But fortunately the street is narrow and short and there is no space to speed up, otherwise - goodbye the bracket or bumper, as the depth of these "antitank ditches" is no less than 30 cm.





The next stop is Sikorskogo Street in another central district Shevchenkovski. In general the road is not bad. You bet, as there is the US embassy nearby. However, the presence of a diplomatic institution of the hyperpower still does not guarantee total absence of hubs. Right under the railway bridge we discovered a number of small, but very frequent potholes.





"Picturesque" holes were found in Industrial Avenue, where they fully cover about hundred meters of the road.



Later we traveled to the left bank of Dniper, and the results surpassed all expectations.

Here is the area of the commercial center "Darnitsa", not far from Lesnaya metro station.

Popudrenko Street with a market, car showrooms, a commercial center and a bunch of bus stops. The road carpet is broken into pieces. It is hard to find an intact piece.





Pavlo Ysenko Street. The picture is similar, but with addition of tram rails. Split-level asphalt and rails bring the risk of not only losing a wheel cover, but breaking a leg.





Now let's visit Magnotogorska Street. Potholes impress imagination with their sizes and riches. In some places the asphalt literally evaporated, so you can see the old paving of red bricks - time to hold excursions and show tourists the cultural archeological layers.





But the hit of the season is a 'lake' near the chemical plant on Krasnotkatska Street. The lake used to be a road, and there are no separate potholes, but one big ditch full of water. Trucks and buses plunge up to the bumper, sloping fountains of mud. Driving through this part of the road reminds navigation on a minefield - you cannot see the depth of the ditch under the water, and in some places it goes half a meter down!





We continued our inspection in Obolon and finished it on Odessa highway. In these places the situation is better and we did not find any significant defects. The road carpet has already been fixed.

After everything seen, it is possible to say the situation is not that bad, comparing to other cities and tows. Don't forget, Kyiv is a capital. Having estimated the situation, the repair works were given three out of five-grade scale. At least for now. Let's see whether the road workers of "Kyivavtodor" will manage to keep the promise and fix all potholes and ditches by May.

Спасибі за Вашу активність, Ваше питання буде розглянуто модераторами найближчим часом

3924