During a fierce night snowstorm on the M-12 Vostok highway, travelers faced debilitating delays that stretched from one hour to as long as five hours. A trucker named Yuri spoke with socialbites.ca, recounting how he had been on the road since five in the evening the previous day and how the traffic along the route had become severely congested.
“We were stuck on the road since five o’clock in the evening. The jam stretched for miles; many cars were immobilized, and Avtodor workers arrived to lend a hand. People moved quickly with shovels, clearing paths and trying to free seized vehicles. The operation looked organized at first, but conditions deteriorated as morning approached. We kept stopping at numerous points, and it is impossible to count how many times we halted. On average, each stop lasted an hour or more, and at most five hours passed with no motion. We would move for a short while, then be held up again for another hour or more, which made the ride feel endless, he explained.”
According to Yuri, traffic began to ease only around 10 a.m. Moscow time, with vehicles advancing in a cautious, single-file procession as crews worked to restore order and reopen the roadway.
Yuri described the scene as being near the start of the congestion, noting that many vehicles became stuck at the same time. In several cases a vehicle with a trailer, like a small GAZelle, could not manage the incline and fell behind the rest of the column. Those present stepped in to help, and the caravan gradually moved forward as the roadway regained a semblance of normalcy. The drivers who had just set out reported that the congestion had been cleared enough to permit slow travel in a steady line, albeit at a reduced pace along the stretch.
Another driver, İldar, told socialbites.ca there was a terrible situation as night fell because the M-12 remained closed in places. He explained that drivers faced discomfort from being unable to eat or use restrooms while the blockage persisted, underscoring the severity of conditions that night on the highway.
Avtodor reported around seven in the morning on January 17 that there was temporarily no traffic on the section from kilometer 684 to 836, extending from Kanash to Shali on the M-12 East highway due to severe weather. The company urged drivers to postpone long journeys for 24 hours and noted that the Ministry of Emergencies was providing the necessary assistance to those stranded in the affected area. In the past, about ten trucks in Tatarstan were involved in a major accident that led to the closure of the highway, amplifying the risk and disruption for those traveling that route.