Kolyma Highway aka Road of Bones

[Russki Guzzi]

Has anyone been on the Kolyma Highway aka The Road Of Bones in the last 12 months? I rode to Vladivostok this year, but avoided the Kolyma Highway because it didn’t fit with my plans. Now I’m developing a serious itch and thinking of going there next summer. Not interested in the abandoned Summer Road section, just the main R504. Would like to find out what condition it’s recently been in.

Thanks on advance for any info.

[Tomkat]

Not *recent* experience but the road was made driveable all the way some years ago and new bridges built to bypass the old decrepit ones. The idea was to create a usable route connecting Magadan and its mines to the rest of Russia by road, so it's intended to be used - although it is a typical Russian dirt road, so the conditions can change.

[cyclopathic]

Originally Posted by Tomkat

Not *recent* experience but the road was made driveable all the way some years ago and new bridges built to bypass the old decrepit ones. The idea was to create a usable route connecting Magadan and its mines to the rest of Russia by road, so it's intended to be used - although it is a typical Russian dirt road, so the conditions can change.

The original federal plan was to get it paved by 2024, and if you ask me from what I saw 3mo ago it is ready to be paved in many parts. All bridges are built (last was built last year) and while there are some bad sections and road construction, most of it is dirt autobahn more or less.

And they don't put calcium chloride so it doesn't get that slippery when wet, but when it's dry dust whiteout is an issue. I almost went off on one occasion, and had a couple close calls with trucks.

[Nubra]

In case anyone else has doubts on this topic, check Pavel's YT channel, Motorcycle Adventures around the world.

He went to Magadan in the summer of 2023. The roads looked ok in his videos, and gone are the days of crossing rotten wooden bridges, as SibirskyExtreem did back in the day.

[crisidsto]

Originally Posted by Nubra

In case anyone else has doubts on this topic, check Pavel's YT channel, Motorcycle Adventures around the world.

He went to Magadan in the summer of 2023. The roads looked ok in his videos, and gone are the days of crossing rotten wooden bridges, as SibirskyExtreem did back in the day.

Looks like he took the federal highway, which, afaik, is ridable since years.
Rotten wooden bridges were (and probably still are) on the Old Summer Road