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Federal Highway M56 |
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| Kolyma Highway | |
| Route information | |
| Length: | 2,031 km (1,262 mi) |
| Major junctions | |
| West end: | Nizhny Bestyakh |
| East end: | Magadan |
| Highway system | |
The M56 Kolyma Highway (Russian: Федеральная автомобильная дорога «Колыма», "Federal Automobile Highway 'Kolyma'") is a road through the Russian Far East. It connects Magadan and Yakutsk, Nizhny Bestyakh on the eastern bank of Lena River at Yakutsk, which itself lies on the western bank, as there is no bridge. A ferry operates during the short summer. The length of the original road via Tomtor is about 1900 km or 1180 miles. At Nizhny Bestyakh it connects to the Lena Highway, also designated M56. Locally, the road is known as Trassa (Russian: Трасса - "The Route"), or Kolymskaya trassa (Russian: Колымская трасса - "The Kolyma Route"), since it is the only road in the area and therefore needs no special name to distinguish it from other roads. The bulk of the Kolyma Highway, the sections between Khandyga and Magadan, is often referred to as the Road of Bones.[1]
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It was constructed in the Joseph Stalin era of the USSR by Dalstroy construction directorate. The first stretch was built by the inmates of the Sevvostlag labor camp in 1932. The construction continued (by inmates of gulag camps) until 1953.
The road is treated as a memorial, because the bones of the people who died while constructing it were laid beneath or around the road.[2]
The area is extremely cold during the winter. Two towns by the highway, Tomtor and Oymyakon, both claim the coldest inhabited place on earth (often referred to as -71.2°C, but might be -67.7°C) outside of Antarctica. The average temperature in Oymyakon in January is -46°C.
The road was in a state of disrepair and is not traversable by standard road vehicles because of washed-out bridges and sections of road reclaimed by streams. During winter, frozen water actually helps river crossings. The main mode of freight transport into Magadan has always been and still is shipping. The main mode of passenger transport is air travel.
The Road of Bones has become a challenge for adventure motorcyclists. After the fall of the Soviet government, the road was first travelled by Western motorcyclists in summer 1995 by the British Mondo Enduro team (West-East) and by Norwegian wanderer Helge Pedersen (starting from Magadan). Subsequent traverses by motorcycle include Simon Milward in 2001 and also Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's round-the-world motorcycle journey in 2004, made into a television series, book and DVD, all named Long Way Round. However, due to the timing of the journey and the condition of the road, it was not possible for them and their support crew to complete the traverse unassisted. They instead joined a Russian freight convoy, whose trucks were able to ford the still swollen rivers. It was also cycled in the 2004 winter by Alastair Humphreys and Rob Lilwall, followed on foot by Rosie Swale-Pope in 2005 and ridden solo on motorcycle by both Adrian Scott and by Russian woman Sasha Teplyakova (via the Old Summer Road) the same year. In 2007 the Polish Motosyberia team completed the Old Summer Road. In 2009 Walter Colebatch and Tony Pettie on the Sibirsky Extreme Project completed the new road, from Yakutsk to Magadan via Ust-Nera, in three and a half days. In 2010 Walter Colebatch returned to host the first commercial motorcycle tour on the Road, in which Sherri-Jo Wilkins became the first foreign female rider to ride the road. In September 2010, Paul and Dean Martinello together with Barton Churchill, completed the Old Summer Road into Magadan, and remain the latest motorcycle arrival to Magadan - the 30th of September, (when nightly temperatures in the area are regularly below -30deg). Commercial trips for small numbers of motorcycles are available.
A 2001 Travel Guide[3] has the following information: Most traffic goes inland from either Magadan or Yakutsk, so the central area is not fully maintained. From December to perhaps May a winter road is maintained. In 1937 the center was realigned. A branch was extended northwest to Ust-Nera and a winter road was built south from there to Kyubume. After that part of the route northeast from Kyubume was no longer fully maintained.
As of 2008 the road became a frequently maintained all weather road for the first time as the road was granted Federal Road status with Federal Government funding. The main route of the Kolyma Highway now passes through Khandyga, Kyubeme, Ust Nera, Susuman, Artik and Magadan. The old 420 km section between Kyubeme and Kadykchan is now largely unmaintained and over 200 km of that route is completely abandoned. This section is known as the Old Summer Road and remains one of the great challenges for adventuring motorcyclists and 4WDers.
The route: (**-** marks an area that may not be passable except when frozen). Yakutsk on the Lena River 1. (road, 380 km northeast, summer ferry across the Aldan at Krest-Khaldzhan) 2. (summer Hydrofoil down the Lena and up the Aldan, 530 km,10 hours), Khandyga on the Aldan River, over Suntar Khayatka mountains, 1200m pass, Vostochnaya River. Kyubeme 1. (old route) 155 km northeast to Tomtor **250 km road northeast**, into Magadan Oblast ) 2. (new route: road north 240 km to Ust-Nera on the Indigirka River, east: several mining towns, Artyk town, headwaters of the Nera River, 1452m pass). Kadykchan (nearby are coal mines and the old Myaundzha uranium processing centre). Susuman east, Debin, Sinegorye with Kolyma Dam and reservoir, Orotukan, road turns southeast and south, 300 km of largely unpopulated taiga, Atka, enters lowlands, Palatka, Sokol, Magadan. There is also a scenic shortcut from Magadan to Susuman vis Ust Omchug called the Tenkinskaya Trassa, which receives a lot less heavy traffic than the main section of the M56 between Magadan and Susuman.
Distances: Yakutsk to Khandyga 380 km, on to Kyubeme 320 km, to Kadykchan (via Tomtor) 420 km, Kadykchan to Susuman 90 km, Susuman to Magadan 630 km.
Kyubeme to Kadykchan north via Ust Nera (the new, maintained section) is about 650 km.
As of summer 2010, the old summer road via Tomtor was still passable to motorcycles and 4x4s.
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