Картографирование сезонной автотранспортной доступности Арктического региона России

Abstract

Transport accessibility is one of the main categories in transport research and planning of socio-economic development of territories. For Russia, which has the largest area of the northern and arctic territories, this problem is especially urgent. The presence and condition of the road network determines the territorial integrity and unity of the economic space, therefore fulfilling the most important strategic task of the spatial integration of the country. Automobile transport in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation is poorly developed and is characterized by a low density of the public network. Its main features are the disunity of the road network, the heterogeneous degree of transport development of the territories and the noticeable role of winter roads in the road infrastructure. An integral part of the transport logistics of the Arctic regions of Russia are winter roads, which allow transportation in the winter season at the lowest cost. The purpose of this study is to develop a database structure and thematic mapping of automobile roads in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, taking into account the seasonality of their operation. As a result of this work, a classification of winter automobile roads and ice crossings of the Arctic territories was developed and an overview map “Seasonal road transport accessibility of the Arctic region of Russia” at a scale of 1:20,000,000 was compiled. The map demonstrates the contrast between the relatively good winter transport development of the territory and summer impassability. On the basis of statistical materials, maps “Density of all-season motorable roads” and “Level of motorization” were compiled, which give an idea of the differentiation of the regions of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation by these indicators. A high level of motorization significantly exceeds the capacity of the existing roads. This is due to the fact that off-road transport is the only guarantor of mobility for the population of hard-to-reach settlements.