A360 Lena Highway

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Federal Highway A360
Федеральная автомобильная дорога А360
Lena Highway
The map highlights the M56, the bottom half of which is the A360
The road after reconstruction, commissioned in 2014
Route information
Length	1,235 km (767 mi)
Major junctions
North end	R504 at Nizhny Bestyakh
South end	R 297 near Skovorodino
Location
Country	Russia
Highway system
Russian Federal Highways
← A 350 → A 361

A360 Lena Highway or The Amur-Yakutsk Highway (Russian: Амуро-Якутская автомобильная дорога or Russian: Амуро-Якутская автомагистраль) is a federal highway in Sakha (Yakutia) in Russia, connecting Yakutsk with the Trans-Siberian Railway corridor near Skovorodino. The road was built in stages between 1925 and 1964.

Stretching parallel to the Amur–Yakutsk Mainline railway, the highway takes its name from the Lena River, which runs more or less north–south in this part of Siberia. The road's southern terminus is at the village of Never near Skovorodino, where it intersects the R297 highway at a cloverleaf junction. With Yakutsk situated entirely on the west bank of Lena, and the road running on the east bank, the highway terminates in Nizhny Bestyakh, a settlement of 4,000 people opposite Yakutsk. When river conditions permit, one may drive right over the frozen river to Yakutsk or take the ferry, but much of the year the river is impassable due to flooding, ice floes or semi-thawed ice not supporting the weight of vehicles.

At Nizhny Bestyakh, Lena Highway connects to Kolyma Highway (The Road of Bones), designated R504, linking Yakutsk with Magadan on the Pacific Ocean to the east.

Although it is a federal highway, it was just a dirt road until 2014. When frozen in the winter, this made for an excellent surface, and the posted speed limit was 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph). However, in the summer, with any kind of significant rain, the road transformed to impassable mud that often swallowed whole smaller vehicles.^[1]

The last problematic part of the highway was paved in 2014 and now it is accessible all throughout the year as far as Tyungyulyu.^[2][3] However, the bridge over the Lena river is still not constructed. The only transport working across the river when it is congested with floating ice are helicopters and hydrofoils.