This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Argounova-Low, T. and Prisyazhnyi, M. (2016), Biography of a Road: Past and Present of the Siberian Doroga Lena. Development and Change, 47: 367–387, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/doi: 10.1111/dech.12220. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.