In the city of Biysk, right in front of the bridge over the Biya River, the Chuysky tract starts its asphalt run, along which any motorist can drive through the whole Altai and reach the border with Mongolia. This highway passes through very picturesque places, so tourists have something to see.
The beauty of the valleys of the seven rivers between the mountain ranges, passes - anyone can drive here.
What is it - the M-52 highway
The federal highway M52 - Novosibirsk-Tashanta is well paved and comfortable for driving, and the tract is only part of it. But the road does not forgive mistakes and rudeness. Do not count the number of traffic accidents on the Chuysky tract. And according to the old driver’s tradition, accidents on the M52 highway were noted by parts of the car - part of the steering wheel, propeller shaft or something else. And on all 953 kilometers of the route (namely, its length), there are lots of debris on the roadsides. And behind each of these "monuments" is someone's crippled fate. As if as a warning to all those traveling, there are pieces of metal along the highway, but who will they stop? After all, everyone is in a hurry on business or on vacation, to meet with loved ones or to something new ... So Chuysky tract is collecting his bloody tribute!
A bit of history
Accidents on the M52 highway occur on each more or less difficult stretch of road. The Altai mountains are especially rich in them, where you can learn from the local old traffic rules. After all, merchant caravans traveled here since ancient times. Even in the Chinese records of a thousand years ago, the Mungal tract is mentioned, which ran on the site of modern Chuisky.
Death was supposed to be a violation of those traffic rules, so there were few who wanted to break them. And the rules were simple. A difficult stretch over a cliff where it is impossible to go even on foot, not like on horses, was called a bom. When approaching the caravan’s boom, the driver went ahead and laid his hat, then returned, and the caravan pushed on. While the hat was lying, not a single caravan came forward.
The Chuysky tract began to be laid in 1901. For two years, under the direction of engineer I. Bil, the caravan path was rebuilt on the way for small two-wheeled tarateas. And the installation of ferry crossings significantly reduced travel time.
In 1916, the route route was plotted on the map in the form in which we know the route today, thanks to an expedition led by V. Shishkov. And although in 1922 the tract acquired national importance, much was in decline and required major repairs.
In the 30s, the tract was leveled, ferry crossings were changed to bridges, they were expanded and improved only with a pickaxe, shovel, crowbar and a wheelbarrow. As the labor used the labor of local residents and the repressed. Due to the incredibly severe climatic conditions and hard physical labor, people were dying in the thousands. Old men said that they were not even buried, they just laid bodies under the road surface or threw them into pits along the road. If this is true, then the track literally stands on the bones.
Famous people whose life was taken by the M52
Not only ordinary people death takes away from us. Accidents on the M52 highway claimed the lives of many, they did not spare well-known people. So, on August 21, 1995, singer T. Snezhina died, along with her another 5 people. They rode a minibus that collided with MAZ.
02.22.2003 - Mayor of Barnaul V. Bavarin dies, did not spare his M52 either. My wife was also in the car and was seriously injured.
08/07/2005 - the governor of the Altai Territory, a well-known comedian Mikhail Evdokimov, dies in the past. Two more people did not survive with him in the accident on the M52 highway. Only Galina Evdokimova, the wife of the governor, was lucky to survive.
Victims of accidents on the highway in 2016
From mid-March to mid-October 2016 alone, 11 major accidents occurred in which 8 people died and even more were injured. Unfortunately, children also got into accidents on the M52 highway. There were mass disasters in which three or more cars participated, head-on collisions, both passenger cars and heavy trucks, buses and Gazelles crashed. And this is only in 2016!
He does not choose the Chuysky tract, whom to pardon, and whom to maim. It does not forgive inattention on the road and exceeding the permissible speed, and weather conditions are changeable all the way, which many drivers simply forget.
Who knows why so many accidents happen on this road? Maybe bad weather conditions are to blame, maybe the carelessness of drivers, or maybe it’s restless souls that take living people with them. But the accidents continue ...