Ice road across Ussuri river

Russian and Chinese experts have completed the construction of a motor road across the ice-clad Ussuri river on the Russo-Chinese border, Gennady Kekot, administration head of the town of Bikin and the surrounding area said on Thursday.

In the Khabarovsk territory there's still no automobile or railway bridge across the Amur and Ussuri rivers, along which the state border runs. In summer the constantly growing border trade cargoes are transported by steamships and ferries. In winter, though, when rivers are covered with ice, the cargo shipment is suspended, and tons of different goods accumulate in the storehouses.

The Khabarovsk territory government reported that representatives of business circles and local authorities had set up construction organisations whose staffers worked on both banks using powerful pumps and other equipment to build up the ice and consolidate it.

Cargo vehicles will first head for China from Russia and back on Monday, following the ice road via the border checkpoint Pokrovka-Raohe.