Where Kazakhstanis drove most often this summer: most popular routes of 2026 named
Tengrinews.kz – In summer 2026, almost 26 million trips were recorded on Kazakhstan’s toll sections of national highways. The busiest route was the Almaty–Konaev section.
According to QazAvtoJol, from June 1 to August 31, 2026, a total of 25,818,167 trips were recorded on 28 toll roads. On average, drivers made around 281,000 trips per day.
Almaty–Konaev remains the most popular routeThe highest number of trips was recorded on the Almaty–Konaev section — more than 4.3 million. This is quite understandable: the extremely hot summer simply pushed Almaty residents, and not only them, to head to the Kapshagay Reservoir and Lake Alakol in East Kazakhstan.
The Shymkent–Uzbekistan border section came second — also a highly popular route among residents of the country. In total, it recorded 2.68 million trips.
The Shymkent–Taraz route ranked third, with 1.87 million trips.
Thus, the heaviest traffic was observed in the Almaty agglomeration and in southern Kazakhstan. The three busiest routes together accounted for more than 8.85 million trips.
High traffic was also recorded on the Taraz–Kainar, Astana–Temirtau, Astana–Shchuchinsk, Shymkent–Kyzylorda and Konaev–Taldykorgan routes. In total, more than 18.2 million trips were recorded on the ten busiest sections. This is about 71 percent of all summer toll-road traffic.
These figures show that Kazakhstanis actively travel not only between major cities, but also to tourist destinations. Popular routes include Almaty–Konaev, Astana–Shchuchinsk, Shchuchinsk–Kokshetau, Karaganda–Balkhash, Kyzylorda–Aralsk, Usharal–Dostyk and others.
Full ranking
Almaty–Konaev — 4,310,266;
Shymkent–Uzbekistan border — 2,682,324;
Shymkent–Taraz — 1,872,053;
Taraz–Kainar — 1,815,796;
Astana–Temirtau — 1,493,818;
Astana–Shchuchinsk — 1,460,655;
Shymkent–Kyzylorda — 1,408,438;
Konaev–Taldykorgan — 1,202,409;
Shchuchinsk–Kokshetau — 1,063,372;
Taraz bypass road (Kainar–Shymkent) — 945,725;Kostanay–Denisovka — 853,586;
Astana–Pavlodar — 837,185;
Karaganda–Balkhash–Burylbaital — 788,183;
Almaty–Khorgos — 767,108;
Kokshetau–Petropavlovsk — 591,025;
Kyzylorda–Aralsk — 567,233;
Pavlodar–Semey–Kalbatau — 461,152;
Shu–Burylbaital — 392,358;
Aktobe–Russian Federation border (Orenburg) — 376,518;Kandyagash–Makat — 297,804;
Taldykorgan–Ust-Kamenogorsk — 286,907;
Kostanay–Russian Federation border (Troitsk) — 281,813;Usharal–Dostyk — 267,250;
Pavlodar–Russian Federation border toward Omsk — 262,766;Uralsk–Russian Federation border toward Samara — 192,314;Uralsk–Russian Federation border toward Saratov — 169,382;Burylbaital–Kurty — 128,487;
Beineu–Akzhigit, Uzbekistan border.