M-12 "Vostok" ("East") is a Category 1A federal highway connecting Moscow with Kazan and, further on, with Yekaterinburg. The route is being built as part of the national project "Safe and High-Quality Roads" and passes through Moscow, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Chuvash, Tatar, and Sverdlovsk Regions and Bashkiria.[2] The total length of the route is about 1,360 km.[1]
Route and Specifications
The highway has at least four traffic lanes (two in each direction), separated by a barrier. Over most of its length the "Free Flow" nonstop payment system is in effect: cameras record the vehicle's license plate number, and the bill is issued through "Gosuslugi" or by SMS. Video recording of violations is carried out along the entire length of the highway.[1]
The highway was conceived as an alternative to the congested M-7 "Volga" and is being laid parallel to it, though along different corridors: in Nizhny Novgorod Region the M-12 runs north of the M-7, bypassing densely populated areas.[1]
The Nizhny Novgorod Section
The highway enters Nizhny Novgorod Region via a cable-stayed bridge over the Oka near Murom and Navashino and crosses the region from west to east, passing through the territories of the Navashinsky, Ardatovsky, Arzamassky, Vadsky, Perevozsky, Buturlinsky, Sergachsky, and Pilninsky districts. The Nizhny Novgorod section is about 277 km long.
In October 2026, the first branched high-precision geopositioning infrastructure in Russia was commissioned on the Nizhny Novgorod section of the M-12, built by PJSC MTS to support Yandex's autonomous vehicles. Besides the Nizhny Novgorod section of the M-12, in October 2026 MTS launched high-precision geopositioning infrastructure on the M-11 "Neva," M-4 "Don," and TsKAD (Central Ring Road) highways, as well as in five cities — Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, and Voronezh. The system uses GNSS RTK technology: signals from the GLONASS, GPS, Galileo, and BeiDou satellites, with a raw accuracy of 5–15 meters, are corrected to 2–5 centimeters using mathematical models and a network of ground reference stations placed on MTS's telecom infrastructure; onboard inertial navigation systems make it possible to maintain centimeter-level positioning accuracy when there is no connection. By 2028, the geopositioning coverage is planned to be extended along the M-12 as far as Tyumen; by 2030, the network is to cover all Russian cities with populations of over a million and key logistics hubs.[3]
Funding and Timelines
The federal government has repeatedly allocated additional funds for construction. In particular, in August 2022 a further 50 billion rubles was directed to this purpose, in addition to the 28 billion rubles allocated at the end of June of that year. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin expressed the expectation that sections in Moscow and Vladimir Regions would be opened ahead of schedule as early as 2022.[2] As of 2026, about 80% of the highway has been put into operation, and full completion of construction is planned for the same period.[1]
References
- Wikidata (Q56742564 — an entry in the free knowledge base)
- OpenStreetMap (12365842)
Sources
- Biznes News. Vremya zarabatyvat — MTS's high-precision geopositioning system has been launched on the M-12 highway to Kazan, covering the entire Nizhny Novgorod section of the route, about 277 km long. By 2028, p
- Vremya N — In addition to the Nizhny Novgorod section of the M-12, in October 2026 MTS launched high-precision geopositioning infrastructure on the M-11 "Neva," M-4 "Don," and Central Ring Road (TsKAD) highways,
- auto-praktis.vercel.app — Route of the M-12 "Vostok" highway: map, diagrams, and 2026 details — Avto Praktis
- prufy.ru — A further 50 billion rubles allocated for construction of the federal M-12 highway, which will pass through Bashkiria