Irkutsk Mayor Explains Why City Roads Turned into Continuous Ruts

In Irkutsk this winter, ruts have become common on roads, even on main arteries, significantly complicating travel for drivers. City Mayor Ruslan Bolotov explained on his Telegram channel why this happened.

«During the abnormal cold, when the thermometer dropped below -38°C (-36°F) at night, equipment didn«t work. Now we»re doing everything to catch up, remove ruts from Irkutsk«s streets, clear sidewalks for comfortable movement,» he wrote.

The mayor added that he instructed the municipal enterprise Irkutskavtodor to increase the volume of both clearing and snow removal operations and to bring in contractor equipment.

«Over the weekend, work was carried out on highways, streets of the 2nd and 3rd categories, bridges, and interchanges. Last night, more than 1,600 tons of anti-icing materials were distributed. The work will continue,» the city head stated.

The head of Irkutskavtodor, Vasily Yefremov, stated that during the frosts, manual cleaning was prioritized. On the night of January 26, road services removed about 2,900 tons of snow and ice using special equipment.

«During the day, contractors continue such work on sections of Baikalskaya, Piskunova, Partizanskaya, Khalturina, Deputatskaya, Sibirskaya, Kalandarishvili, Napolnaya, Timiryazeva, Kievskaya, Sibirskikh Partizan, Kayskaya, Polyarnaya, Borodina, 1st Kirovskaya, Ulan-Batorskaya streets. Equipment is also being used on streets of the 2nd and 3rd categories,» noted the press service of the Irkutsk mayor«s office.

Recall that ruts and packed snow in Irkutsk appeared even before the frosts. This coincided with problems for the municipal Irkutskavtodor, whose accounts were temporarily blocked due to debts to contractors. Earlier, we collected responses from residents on the city authorities« social media, walked around Irkutsk ourselves, and compiled a map of the most snow-covered places.