Parking in two rows
This is now recognized by all experts: Moscow is balancing on the verge of a transport collapse. This is the logical stage of the 20-year “transition period” from socialism to capitalism. It is clear that in 1991 in the city there were no offices, no banks, no shops, no restaurants, according to today's concepts (and there are still no hotels). Under the mayor of Luzhkov, the city was built up, in fact, without a plan and perspective, since its development was determined by officials and investors. The latter had money; the former had the opportunity to trade state land. Such a neo-feudalism …
VIEW FROM ABOVE
According to the program, which the Ministry of Transport proposes to solve accumulated problems, it should begin with the expansion of roads, the creation of an intelligent transport system, as well as the development of public transport. Who would argue! True, according to the Deputy Minister of Transport of Russia Oleg Belozerov, residents and guests of the Moscow region should not expect an immediate result. The main task for the next year or two is "to prevent transport collapse." Pretty perspective …
The Ministry of Transport part of the program describes in detail what is planned to be done in the next ten years outside the Moscow Ring Road in order to solve the problem of traffic jams in the city itself. On the outskirts of the capital and in the suburbs, 91 transport hubs (with public transport stops and intercepting parking lots) will be built. Moreover, 19 of them are supposed to be placed on the far approaches to the city - in the area of the future ring of the Central Ring Road. Construction standards will change: the area of residential premises in new houses will be linked to the number of parking spaces in parking lots and in underground garages.
Naturally, the program deals with the need to increase fines for non-compliance with the requirements of road signs and markings, stopping and parking rules, as well as the introduction of regional parking fees (such bills are already being considered in the State Duma). But by 2020, moving around the metropolitan area will be much more convenient. Accident, as we are promised, will decrease by 30%, and the average speed, on the contrary, will increase by 30–35%. To live to these bright times …
LOWER VIEW
If the ministerial project is more or less made up, then the mayor sent the Moscow plan to combat traffic jams at the end of winter for another revision. But it is already clear that the most ambitious (read: costly) proposals that the last mayor actively promoted came out of him. For example, Sergei Sobyanin decided to abandon the plans for the construction of the Fourth Ring Road, and along with other “construction projects of the century”. Instead of spending on CTK (at least 1 trillion rubles), the mayor proposed financing the reconstruction of existing roads and the development of public transport infrastructure. Indeed, according to the Research and Design Institute of the General Plan of Moscow, only 24% of residents use private transport in the metropolitan area, while 76% choose public transport. “We must create such conditions so that public transport can be reached much faster than personal transport,” the capital’s mayor said on the air of Ekho Moskvy radio. “And the transport itself must be comfortable.”
Here, as they say, there is something to work on. Plans have already been published for the priority development of the Moscow metro, updating the fleet of buses and trolleybuses, building light rail lines … They plan to build backups for congested routes, and to remove power lines underground (this is also protection against freezing rain!). And of course, lanes for public transport will be allocated on each departure highway, only buses, trolleybuses and licensed minibuses will get the right to move on them. The first tracks where such lanes appear are the Warsaw and Kashirskoye Highways. At Varshavka, for example, they promise to build 48 km of additional lanes, two interchanges and six pedestrian crossings, underground and aboveground. In total, the priority plans include expanding roads on nine radial highways in 22 places, building new 102 exits, 191 pockets for public transport and 69 pedestrian crossings.
This, of course, is great, but the shortage of roads in Moscow, according to experts, is at least 400 km. And the city park, according to forecasts of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, will grow one and a half times by 2020 - up to 5 million cars. In a word, it becomes clear why the mayor sent this plan for revision. Indeed, according to experts, the transport system of Moscow lags behind the current needs of the capital by 25-30 years and this becomes a brake on the socio-economic development of Moscow and the entire region.
In any case, quick changes do not have to wait. It is only a pity that no real measures to combat traffic jams for almost half a year’s stay of Sergei Sobyanin in the chair of the capital’s mayor were noticed. Plans, projects, and “priority measures” are being discussed more and more … For example, in the fall, high-ranking officials drove through the Moscow Ring Road and found that many retail outlets did not have normal access and exit lanes - they simply made breaks in barriers. It seems threatened to take strict measures against violators. And - silence … Alas, such claims to the new metropolitan leadership are becoming more and more. After all, if you do nothing, we really in a couple of years will stand in one continuous traffic jam - from Mytishchi to Shcherbinka, from Golitsyn to Noginsk. I would not want to …
LIST OF UNSOLVED PROBLEMS
1. The primary task of the authorities is to organize normal parking lots. While this is not the case, drivers in the center continue to park in two rows, blocking the already narrow streets.
2. The entrances to many shopping centers on the Moscow Ring Road are organized with flagrant violations of state standards and safety requirements. Where are the promised strict measures for violators?
Entrances to shopping centers
3. The lane for public transport on the Volokolamsk highway was formed due to the "truncation" of the existing carriageway. It is not separated from the rest of the lanes, and on it, despite the threat of punishment, all comers. In order for the idea to work, a new strip must be built in addition to the existing ones and separated from them by at least a border!
