More traffic jam in Murmansk
The number of cars in Murmansk city increased with 10.000 last year and is now 96.000. For Russia in total, Lada is still the most sold car.
Car sales in Russia dropped with around 50 percent in 2009 compared with 2008. A total of 1,46 million cars were sold in Russia last year. The decrease is due to the financial crises, and is expected to go up again soon.
In Murmansk city, the number of registered cars will soon exceed 100.000, an increase by 10,000 since the end of 2008.
Interviewed by the local newspaper Vetchery Murmansk, head of traffic police in Murmansk Oblast Aleksandr Gelbov complains about the traffic jam situation in the city. – If the capacity for the main thoroughfare in Murmansk isn’t improved, the day when we will face a total collapse in the traffic situation will soon come, Gelbov said.
Due to the increased traffic, the average speed for a car driving in the streets of Murmansk is now 37 km/h.
There are some 35 million cars in Russia today. Despite the growing numbers of cars on the roads, Russia still lags behind Western Europe in terms of cars per person. Russia’s car density stood at some 235 per 1,000 adults, which is little more than a third of the Western European level.
If the current trend continues, Russia will have some 60 million cars by 2020. The growing number of cars in Murmansk city follows the average growth in Russia by 10 percent more cars year-on-year. So, if the trend continues in Murmansk, the numbers of cars in Russia’s largest city north of the Arctic Circle will surpass 200.000 ten years from now.
The car sales statistics for 2009 place Lada on the top with 350.000 new cars. Number two on the list, presented by RIA Novosti, is Cheverolet, with 104.000 new cars. Then follows Ford, Hundai and Renault.
