The throughput capacity of the Gukovo checkpoint on the administrative border between the Lugansk People’s Republic and the Rostov region has increased to 2,500 vehicles a day, the Russian Transport Ministry press service reported.
“The Transport Ministry and the Federal Agency for the Development of the State Border of the Russian Federation (Rosgranstroy) have fulfilled the task set by President Vladimir Putin to increase the Gukovo checkpoint throughput capacity,” the press service said.
The facility’s design capacity is 800 vehicles a day.
In actual fact, 2,000 vehicles got checked at Gukovo every day. State control bodies personnel and the checkpoint infrastructure were pushed to the limit. The Ministry and Rosgranstroy, within a short period, added an extra lane, changed the cargo traffic pattern and relocated the parking place of the mobile detection system. The whole checkpoint area was asphalted, the Ministry said.
“Comfortable conditions have been created for the drivers passing the Gukovo checkpoint," said Rosgranstroy first deputy head Akop Akopyan.
The Avtodor company in the Lugansk People’s Republic repaired two kilometers of the road which leads to Gukovo. Works are underway to widen the road leading to the checkpoint from the Rostov region.
“Gukovo is an example of comprehensive approach to the task to make the movement of citizens more comfortable and speed up cargo delivery without compromising security,” said director of the Transport Ministry department for state policy in the field of border checkpoint development Mikhail Kokayev.
On July 4, Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said that a large portion of repairs on the roads leading to Gukovo had been completed.
LPR Acting Head Leonid Pasechnik said that an increase in Gukovo’s traffic capacity would improve communication with other regions and help reduce prices of goods.
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After his visit to the Lugansk People’s Republic President Vladimir Putin instructed Khusnullin to urgently deal with the issue of road widening and road repairs in the Gukovo checkpoint area.
The deputy premier said that all checkpoints between Donbass and Russian regions would increase their traffic capacity by September.
Pasechnik ordered the LPR Infrastructure and Transport Ministry to optimize traffic in the Gukovo area during road repairs in the Republic's Sverdlovsk district.
The Lugansk People’s Republic acceded to Russia on September 30, 2022 following the unification referendum.*i*ie