President Vladimir Putin used an address Sunday to the country's road workers on national Road Workers' Day to call for faster road construction.
"The pace of road construction work should be increased. Constant attention should be paid to modernizing road infrastructure," the statement congratulating members of the profession, which was published on the president's website, read.
Putin also called on road workers to "actively implement modern logistic and managerial schemes" and modern technologies in order to increase transport safety.
"Road facilities are an important, essential element of the country's transport system, they play a key role in the stable development of the regions and in the country's economy, they directly influence the standard of living," Putin's message said.
Russia's roads are often blamed for holding back the country's economic development, as the disastrous state of some of them makes it difficult to transport agricultural produce and manufactured goods around the vast country. Their poor quality is also a factor in the country's road deaths rate, which is one of the highest in the world.
