Ukraine enhances border infrastructure
Due to the Russian military aggression and the following blockade of the seaports, the western border of Ukraine, particularly with Poland, became vital for the country’s foreign trade and connection with the European Union. Such a significance has a downside: longer queues of trucks. To tackle this issue, Ukraine has initiated a dedicated programme for enhancing border infrastructure.
Dozens of kilometres of trucks can be seen near most of the Ukrainian checkpoints on the border with Poland. Such a situation has become usual after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. To reduce the queues of the heavy goods vehicles on the border, the Government of Ukraine initiated the Open Border programme, which is dedicated to enhancing the infrastructure of eight road border crossings. First of all, the plan of action includes the creation of more options to separate various types of vehicles (cars, buses, trucks). This means that more truck-dedicated gates will be launched at the checkpoints and some of them will focus on processing specific types of vehicles: private cars or trucks.
Yahodyn border crossing
The Yahodyn/Dorohusk road border crossing is the key point for the cross-border traffic between Ukraine and Poland as it is located on the way from Kyiv to Warsaw. Due to the importance of the facility, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine decided to devote this checkpoint to heavy goods vehicles (HGVs). Starting from 27 June, only trucks will be processed at the Yahodyn/Dorohusk border crossing. Moreover, separate lanes for the empty HGVs will be created.
“Vehicles with a gross weight of up to 7.5 tonnes and cars will be redirected to other checkpoints,” the Western regional department of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine announced earlier this week. The border crossing will continue to process buses for some period but they are expected to be soon redirected to other locations, primarily to the Krakovets/Korczowa checkpoint, which is under reconstruction now.
Krakovets border crossing
Another important point on the Polish-Ukrainian border is the Krakovets/Korczowa road border crossing. As it is located 70 kilometres from Lviv, many buses running between Poland and Ukraine are running through it daily. Starting from 19 June, the entire bus traffic via the checkpoint has been temporarily suspended due to the modernisation works.
The reconstruction of the Krakovets/Korczowa road border crossing is aimed at increasing its capacity by 50 per cent. More lanes will be created for buses, trucks and private cars. For instance, the number of truck-dedicated lanes will increase from 4 to 10. There will be also implemented some improvements for private cars. By today, several mobile customs posts have been installed at the Krakovets/Korczowa checkpoint.
“We will also implement similar projects for increasing capacity on the borders with other western neighbours. We are already negotiating the accession of Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova to the Open Border,” said Oleksandr Kubrakov, minister of infrastructure of Ukraine.