Traffic congestion on the Crimean bridge spiked overnight, with the number of idle vehicles climbing to about a thousand as cars lined up from the Kuban region. The Crimean Transport Minister, Nikolay Lukashenko, reported the shift in conditions through his telegraph channel. By 07:00, roughly 980 vehicles were queued from the town of Taman, and the forecast pointed to a waiting time of around three hours. Lukashenko noted that there were no notable traffic jams on the Kerch side at that moment.
In the early morning of July 15, a line of 304 cars formed at the entrance from the Krasnodar Territory. This development indicated a continued buildup in inbound traffic from the mainland, despite efforts to move vehicles efficiently across the bridge span.
Earlier, on the evening of July 14, the Kerch entrance also experienced a queue, growing to about 716 vehicles with an estimated wait exceeding two hours. This pattern suggested persistent bottlenecks at peak transfer points, influencing travel plans and prompting updates from regional authorities on advisory speeds and alternative routes.
The preceding day, July 13, saw the Krasnodar Territory entrance accumulate around 620 vehicles. Each of these snapshots painted a picture of fluctuating volumes that tested the bridge’s capacity to manage cross-regional traffic flow during peak periods.
Separately, an irrigation machine in the Leningrad region caught fire on its route, a roadside incident that added a layer of disruption to the broader transportation network in the area. While not directly tied to the Crimean crossing, such events underscore the variety of factors that can affect travel times and route planning for motorists moving through adjacent corridors.