&gt;That isn&#x27;t to say that it&#x27;s entirely a problem rooted in lack of funding, though; as it turns out, building roads across permafrost is extremely difficult and Russia has a ton of that across its eleven time zones.<p>tough &quot;extreme conditions&quot; afflicting Russian roads :)<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;world&#x2F;2016&#x2F;jan&#x2F;13&#x2F;russian-prison-official-accused-stealing-30-mile-road-alexander-protopopov" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.theguardian.com&#x2F;world&#x2F;2016&#x2F;jan&#x2F;13&#x2F;russian-prison-...</a><p>&quot;Russia has detained a senior prison service official on suspicion of stealing a 30-mile (50km) stretch of public road, investigators said.<p>Alexander Protopopov oversaw the dismantling of a concrete highway and sold off the slabs while prison service chief in the far-northern Komi region, the Investigative Committee said in a statement.<p>The road, which was made up of more than 7,000 reinforced concrete slabs, was “dismantled and driven away” over more than a year, between 2014 and 2015&quot;