Claim of traffic growth slowing down sevenfold across the Russian Highways' network is incorrect

An assumption that traffic growth across the roadnet under the Russian Highways State Company has slowed down sevenfold is wrong and stems from misreading the figures.
Based on preliminary operational data for the year 2025, the total number of vehicle trips on all expressways under the Russian Highways State Company exceeded 397 million, a 5% increase from 2024.
To recap, the overall number of vehicle trips along the entire network of expressways under the Russian Highways State Company exceeded 379 million in 2024, which is up 33% from 2023. The significant traffic surge in 2024 had clear causes, such as the commissioning of new expressway segments. Thus, the M-12 "Vostok" from Moscow to Kazan opened in late 2023, followed by the Tver Bypass down the M-11 "Neva" in July 2024, thereby establishing a seamless high-speed link between Moscow and St. Petersburg and finalizing the St. Petersburg–Kazan corridor.
Concurrently, modifications were implemented to the traffic data collection system related to the opening of new sections. Specifically, the number of trips at the M-11 "Neva" logged by the toll system showed a slight drop, although actual traffic increased. The reason was that before the Tver Bypass opened, the M-11 highway had been split into two parts, meaning a motorist going from Moscow to St. Petersburg would be recorded as taking two separate trips. Starting July 2024, when M-11 has turned seamless, and all through the year 2025, a passage down the Moscow - St. Petersburg route is logged as a single trip.
Therefore, the traffic dynamics are directly linked to the stages of network development, as well as modifications in the traffic data collection system related to the commissioning of new road segments, and do not indicate a decline in public demand for expressways.