Travelers are complaining about severe conditions including sweltering heat and no access to restrooms. Experts predict that the congestion will persist through August 5th.
Updated: 21:00
A record-breaking traffic jam has formed on the approach to the Crimean Bridge from the Taman side, stretching for 35 kilometers, according to Yandex Maps. The previous day, the queue was 30 kilometers long.
On August 4th, around 6 PM, a massive queue extended from the A-290 highway section near Vyshestebliyevskaya rural settlement all the way to the inspection point. The operational Telegram channel monitoring the situation reported 2,700 vehicles in the queue from Taman, with an estimated waiting time exceeding six hours.
By 8 PM, the number of cars in the queue had decreased to 1,260, and the waiting time was reduced to four hours. From the Kerch side, 570 vehicles were waiting for manual inspection, with an estimated wait time of about two hours.
Crimean journalist Alexander Gorny confirmed that the checkpoint operations on the Taman side are indeed slower than those on the Kerch side.
Alexander Gorny, Crimean journalist and blogger: “From my personal experience, I must admit that the operations on the Crimean side were much better organized when I crossed the Crimean Bridge compared to the Taman side. In recent weeks, there has been an enormous influx of tourists, and the checkpoints are simply not physically designed to handle such volume. While there are points where water is distributed and bio-toilets are available, it`s physically impossible to provide these facilities along the entire length of the queue, which, according to various sources, stretches for 30-50 kilometers. The main task for the people working at the Crimean Bridge is to at least provide for the first few kilometers of the formed jam. The staff working at the Crimean Bridge are under immense pressure. We`ve always had a shortage of inspection personnel, and these are specialists trained in vehicle inspection and the use of special equipment. There`s also a human factor related to the tourists themselves, who often don`t follow recommendations for preparing to cross the Crimean Bridge. They just throw their belongings into the car, causing delays because it`s recommended to pack everything compactly so that during inspection, suitcases and bags can be easily and quickly removed and passed through manual scanners.”
Oleg, an administrator of the «Crimean Bridge Kuban» Telegram channel and a taxi driver living in Vyshestebliyevskaya village, stated that the waiting time in the queue from Taman to Crimea can reach about seven hours.
— Today was an insane record—cars stretched to the third exit, and beyond the third exit are populated areas. People are suffering in the heat on an unsuitable road; it only becomes suitable after about 20 kilometers, and the first gas station is about 10-12 kilometers away. There are children in cars, adults too, no restrooms, and bio-toilets and the first gas station are far away. Nobody anticipated such a situation. Volunteers brought water, but not to all points. Toilets are the saddest part; I read comments, it`s just horrible. I didn`t know how to help people: on both sides, there are fields, cars are in one lane, sometimes two, sometimes three. Some «smart» drivers overtake on the right, some on the left, causing more congestion. The traffic police are monitoring, driving around, chasing everyone, trying to line them up in one lane. Now, things are more or less organized. Passport checks take five to ten minutes; the officers work quickly. There are about 50 such posts, maybe more will be connected, but as far as I know, an average of 50 cars enter manual inspection simultaneously.
— How much does the bypass route through the new territories help?
— It helps, yes.
— I heard that there are also traffic jams there?
— Yes, but minor ones; today it was a maximum of three hours because there are many long-haul trucks there, it`s a bit difficult, almost no overtaking, the road surface is good, but the inspection is thorough. Today it was about three hours, but the traffic is still faster there; we have a very large accumulation of cars here.
Zinaida, a resident of Kerch, who left Krasnodar with her children, shared her difficulties with Business FM. She got stuck in the queue at 3 PM and after four hours had only covered about two-thirds of the distance to the inspection points. During the day, temperatures in the area exceeded 30 degrees Celsius.
— It`s very hot; they started giving out water only in the second half of this traffic jam, and there are no restrooms. People with babies, one-year-olds, two-year-olds, have to let them use a potty next to the car. There are no bushes, so adults go further into the field. And what is a field in our region? It`s snakes, spiders, it`s dangerous. It`s one thing for an adult, but what if a child gets bitten? An ambulance won`t arrive quickly through these traffic jams. The first restroom appeared before the Lukoil gas station, after that there were only two more – and that`s it. We`ve been traveling for four hours now; it always seems faster from Kerch for some reason; the Crimean side serves people more efficiently. When the old inspection process was in place, I think people were served faster. Now they have implemented a large inspection: they divide traffic into those for manual inspection and the other half – passenger buses and those for scanning. And now they interweave these flows: first, they gather one group of people, release them, then another. My son commutes to work from Kerch to Taman and back. He leaves work at eight in the morning, arrives home at 12 PM – these are buses waiting for scanning, standing for four hours for inspection. The Krasnodar side has 100 car inspection points, and there are always traffic jams on this side. And I wouldn`t say that more cars are coming to us than leaving. Yesterday, «Tavrida.ART» ended, there were a lot of people, everyone is leaving from there, and there`s no such traffic jam on the Crimean side.
— Is the communication being jammed: mobile internet and telephony?
— In some places. The terrain is hilly; sometimes, when we drive uphill, there seems to be a signal, but here, for security reasons, it`s definitely jammed.
The traffic police have blocked bypass routes through the Taman village because many motorists, using navigation apps, tried to shorten their travel time and cut into the traffic flow without waiting in line.
Currently, movement onto the Crimean Bridge from Taman is permitted exclusively via the A-290 federal highway. Using other routes is prohibited.
According to specialists` forecasts, increased traffic and queues towards Crimea are expected to persist until August 5th. Tourists are strongly advised to stock up on water and fuel in advance.
