The tunnel connecting Alabyan and Bolshaya Akademicheskaya streets and passing under Leningradsky Prospekt and Volokolamsky and Leningradsky tunnels has now become the main part of the Bolshaya Leningradka project, which they began to implement back in 2006. In addition, the tunnel will become part of another grandiose project of the Moscow authorities - the North-Western Chord, which will unload the MKAD and the Third Transport Ring and provide communications between the north-eastern and south-western regions.
Building
The construction was suspended for five months in 2010, but now lost time is catching up at an impressive pace. 70% of the tunnel structures are already ready, and the first test run of the movement is planned in March. In operating mode, the object will be launched in May. A two-kilometer tunnel will have three lanes in each direction. It is planned that after its commissioning, traffic along the Leningradskoye and Volokolamsk Highways will be unloaded by 20–25%.
“In the course of the work, the builders faced serious difficulties,” said Andrei Bochkarev about the construction. - The tunnel was laid under the Zamoskvoretskaya metro line, along which train traffic did not stop. To ensure safety, a reinforced concrete shield was made between the tunnel and the subway tracks.”
Roads
In parallel with the construction of the Alabyano-Baltic tunnel, in January, the next stage of the Northwest Chord, the expansion of Bolshaya Akademicheskaya Street, begins. From four lanes, it will be increased to six, and at the intersection of Mikhalkovskaya and Pryanishnikova streets they will build a tunnel half a kilometer long, build three underground and five elevated pedestrian crossings. Moscow authorities hope to complete all these works by the beginning of next year.
Designers showed unexpected concern for residents of the houses closest to the construction site. They promise that throughout the street during the reconstruction they will install noise insulation screens, and they will install double-glazed windows in houses for free.
Verdict
Sergey Nastin, editor:
