Although the construction is at the project stage yet, it is clear already there will be no traffic lights in the Fourth Ring Road to avoid the jams.
Photo: Sergey Mikheev
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Roads Are Dear to Moscow Government
Construction of the 4th Ring Road has been shelved again, Yury Roslayk, 1st vice mayor of Moscow, who is in charge of the economic policy and development of the city, announced Wednesday, December 14, 2005. Although the construction is still at the project stage, once thing is known for certain – to avoid the jams, the 4th Ring Road will have no traffic lights. The effect will be opposite, analysts say referring to the 3rd Ring Road.
Key project documents will be developed next year so that some work could begin in late 2006, Roslayk said. The basic work will be carried out from 2007 to 2009. Some part of the road, which construction was promised to begin in 2004, is operating now. The 16-kilometer section of the 4th Ring Road will include Minskaya street, Lomonosovsky and Nakhimovsky avenues. As a whole, the road will be running along the internal ring of the Moscow Railway and have a number of tunnels but no traffic lights. Exactly the absence of the latter has been severely criticized by a number of traffic experts.
“The movement with no traffic lights is not the best way out. Cars are going too fast, violating the speed rules, and it triggers traffic jams,” said Yury Kremenets from Moscow Road Transport Institute.
Moreover, Moscow authorities have amassed rather negative experience in this issue. The 3rd Ring Road that has no traffic lights is regarded one of the most problem roads of Moscow in terms of the jams. To improve the situation, Moscow has to take actions of no precedent that will cost ˆ27 million to the city (half of funds provided by World Bank Group as a loan). In the fall, Moscow government held a tender to pick out a company for arranging and developing the automated control system for the 3rd Ring Road’s traffic. The tender was won by Siemens, which will get down to business in 2006.
“With the 4th Ring Road having no traffic lights, the Moscow government will have to fund similar counter jam actions once again,” sources with Moscow Transport Infrastructure Center said.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 15, 2005
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