Penza, 13 April 2016. PenzaNews. Penza was placed 111th in the rating compiled by the All-Russian People’s Front (APF) inspection “Evaluate Road Quality!” that evaluated 65,000 km of roads (more than 900 guarantee roads) in 120 cities of 82 Russian regions in July-December 2015.

© PenzaNewsBuy the photo

Moreover, Penza took the 22nd place in the Volga Federal District among the cities included in the rating – falling behind such competitors as Engels and Saratov.

The worst inspected roads were located in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Ulyanovsk and Yakutsk, where road potholes exceed the allowed limits by a wide margin.

The top places in the road quality rating were taken by Tyumen, Saransk and Belgorod.

According to Alexander Vasilyev, head of the APF inspection “Evaluate Road Quality!”, the experts primarily focused on the year of repairs in their road evaluation.

“The roads repaired by subcontractors in 2015 should have been in an ideal condition, while those that underwent repairs in 2011 usually must have noticeable issues. Because of that, the roads with ‘older’ roads in good condition were placed far higher than cities with newly-repaired roads with issues. The highest positions in the APF rating were allocated to the cities with the least detected road issues, with nearly no potholes, rutting or asphalt cracks,” he explained.

The rating also took into account the cost of repairs (including capital repairs), road traffic safety management by schools, availability of parking lots by hospitals and medical institutions, and road system accessibility.

The list was formed using a special scheme developed in cooperation with leading experts in road construction and planning, seasoned drivers, civil activists and members of the State Duma transportation committee.

The rating highlights not only the physical status of roads at the moment of evaluation, but also the efforts taken by the local authorities to set up the guarantee repair deadlines and enforcing subcontractors to repair them in due time, the APF press service informed PenzaNews.

According to the notes of the APF road inspection, the Penza roads were repaired under a 3-year guarantee in 2013, and under a 4-year guarantee in 2014. The report also lists the identified road issues in Penza, including those detected during the visit of the APF road inspection in October 2015.

As PenzaNews reported earlier, many Penza roads currently undergo pothole repairs, as well as guarantee road repairs and pipeline repair aftermath cleanup.