My Street: Always a feast

Tverskaya Street

This latest renovation of Tverskaya Street is comparable to the 1930s reconstruction project in scale, except for moving several historical buildings. This time improvements included pavement (sidewalk) widening and renovation, the creation of parking areas, the installation of benches and rubbish bins, the relocation of utility cables underground, upgrading lighting and the planting of trees and shrubs. The sidewalks on Tverskaya Street have been repaved with granite stone blocks of two hues: darker close to the road where signs, etc. are located and lighter for walking areas.

The total pedestrian area has increased by over 7,000 square metres, and the average width of the sidewalks has almost doubled.

Asphalt was laid in one continuous layer without seams. This modern method extends the service life of the surface. The street now has a two-layer surface: the lower layer is based on a reinforced polymer geo-grid, and the upper layer is made of modified bitumen adapted to the local climate.

Parking for 15 taxis has been created. All cable lines and other wires have been relocated underground. New LED streetlamps have been installed, and 12 building facades have been renovated.

Lime trees will be planted on Tverskaya Street in October in sidewalk planters with a high border to protect them from road grime.

The My Street project includes renovation and also provides for laying new communication lines with an extended life span of several decades.

The renovated Tverskaya Street will be one of the main venues for public festivities. Street decorations and the entertainment programme will be part of the year of Russian cinema. Anyone will be able to have their hair and makeup mimic characters from the film “Walking the Streets of Moscow,” learn to dance polonaise to live orchestra music like Natasha Rostova at her first ball, or “work” in the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department as it was shown in the film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed.”

Ten Moscow Films venues will be put up on Tverskaya Street.

What else?

Muscovites and visitors will be able to take a walking tour that will introduce them to literary Moscow. One route starts at Triumfalnaya Square, which was renovated last year, down Tverskaya Street, which was improved this year, and back.

Those who take this tour will learn many interesting facts from the life of distinguished people, including actors Lyubov Orlova and Mikhail Ulyanov, writer Alexander Fadeyev, pilot Alexei Maresyev and aircraft designer Semyon Lavochkin.

Date: 10 September

Time: 2 pm

Meeting place: at the monument to Vladimir Mayakovsky on Triumfalnaya Square

During another tour, walkers will learn about the history of buildings and the famous people who lived on Tverskaya Street and on the neighbouring lanes.

Date: 10 September

Time: 1 pm 

Meeting place: The museum entrance on 14 Tverskaya Street

Advance booking is required and is available by email at preod@mail.ru.

Around Tverskaya

Kalashny, Voznesensky, Gazetny, Nikitsky, Nastasyinsky and Chernigovsky lanes (pereulok) have been paved with granite stone. The average width of the sidewalks has increase by 1.5 metres and new street furniture and rubbish bins have been installed.

The roads have been recoated, utility lines have been relocated underground, and new streetlamps have been installed.

A copy of the Triumph Arch in Moscow will be built across from Voznesensky Pereulok as an entrance to the location of the film “War and Peace,” where a Russian and a French military camp will be recreated. Russian and French soldiers will invite people to join their raids and drill training and teach them to clean weapons.

Not far from Kamergersky Pereulok will be the location of the science fiction film “Visitor from the Future” with a teleportation trolleybus, a time machine, robots and people from the future.

Kremlin Ring

Mokhovaya, Manezhnaya and Okhotny Ryad streets and Teatralny Proyezd have been paved with granite stone blocks. The sidewalks have been widened to 6.3 metres on average, and modern street furniture and rubbish bins have been installed.

New surface pedestrian crossings have been added to these streets, and the asphalted roads have been resurfaced.

Utility lines have been relocated underground, and 119 LED streetlamps been installed. They have been designed after the old city lamps based on drawings at the Moscow Lights Museum.

On City Day, people can achieve their dreams of becoming an actor. A location on Okhotny Ryad Street will be used to shoot musical scenes inspired by the popular film “Hipsters.”

Project director Zivile JU Montvilaite said her aspiration was to recreate the atmosphere of the late 1950s, when a new youth counterculture developed in Moscow after the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students.

On 10 and 11 September, casting agents and directors will select people for crowd scenes from festival participants.

Urban walkers will be able to see many details of old Moscow streets on walking tours. They will see central streets and architectural landmarks and learn the history behind the name of the city’s oldest streets, Znamenka and Mokhovaya, as well as the history of buildings like the Shilov Gallery, the Pashkov House and the Arbuzova Estate.

Time: 2 pm

Meeting place: Borovitskaya metro station

Advance booking is required and is available by telephone +7 (495) 697-73-10.

Novy Arbat

The pedestrian zone on Novy Arbat Street has been expanded and the sidewalks and walking areas have been covered with granite stone blocks in two different hues. New benches and streetlights have been installed, lawns planted and cables and wires relocated underground.

The sidewalks have been widened: the average width is now 44.5 metres. Modern street furniture has been installed, the road has been repaved, cables and wires have been relocated underground and 97 new LED streetlights have been installed.

When trees are planted on the street in the autumn, the south side of the street will become a green boulevard that will be ideal for walks in the city centre. The narrower north side of the street will have well-appointed recreation areas with trees.

The renovation has turned Novy Arbat into an attractive venue for festivities. From 9 to 18 September, it will be one of the venues for the Moscow Films festival, in particular, the film “Moscow, I Love You.” Visitors will have a chance to shoot short documentaries about themselves in the decorations of their choice. They can also display their potential in a pavilion called 360 Degrees, where a professional cameraman will help them use a modern panoramic video technology to shoot a video. There will also be a show by stunt performers.

Arbatskaya Square and Arbatskiye Vorota Square

The mini-park near the Khudozhestvenny cinema now has new sidewalks, benches and trees. The opposite side near Praga restaurant has been expanded for pedestrians and parking has been improved. The traffic pattern here has changed – drivers can only access this side of Arbatskaya Square from the Boulevard Ring, and only public transit vehicles will be allowed to exit Novy Arbat here.

A walking tour around Arbat and the nearby lanes, which form a conservation area, will begin at this point. After the trip you will know why Arbat was one of the main sources of inspiration for Bulat Okudzhava, an outstanding Soviet poet, writer, musician, novelist and singer-songwriter.

Walkers in the tour called Bulat Okudzhava’s Arbat will stroll the lanes and peek into the courtyards that inspired him. They will also learn about other famous Russians who lived or worked here, including Alexander Pushkin, Yekaterina Semyonova, Andrei Bely, Marina Tsvetayeva, Nikolai Glazkov and Anatoly Rybakov.

Time: 12 noon

Meeting place: At the Khudozhestvenny cinema

Advance booking is required and is available by telephone +7 (495) 637-70-05 or email mosburo@mosmuseum.ru.

Boulevard Ring

A pedestrian zone has been created along the Boulevard Ring. The sidewalks have been widened from 22.8 to 32.2 metres, and the boulevards have been merged into a single route, which is easier to stroll along. The linear park will draw pedestrians’ attention to the adjoining streets, lanes, mini-parks and squares.

The number of streetlamps has been increased six-fold and lamp shades have been added.

New surface pedestrian crossings have been created and information and navigation stands and benches have been installed.

The parallel centre parkway along the Boulevard Ring will be completed by 2018, but the finished sections are open for walking, photo exhibits, festivals and other events.

A literary walking tour about the life of writer Konstantin Paustovsky will begin on Nikitskiye Vorota Square. Walkers will be told about Granatny Pereulok where Paustovsky was born, as well as Leontyevsky Pereulok and Tverskoy Boulevard. They will also learn the history of this district, its streets and lanes, historical buildings and monuments.

Time: 12 noon and 3 pm

Meeting place: the Natalia Goncharova and Alexander Pushkin Rotunda Fountain on Nikitskiye Vorota Square

Advance booking is required and is available at mlmc-kgp@mail.ru

The walking tour called From Pushkin to Vysotsky will include Pushkin Square, Strastnoi Boulevard and the adjacent area.

Date: 10 September

Time: 1 pm

Meeting place: Alexander Pushkin monument

Advance booking is required and is available at magput.ru

Garden Ring

The Garden Ring will soon be able to justify its name; it will have its long-gone fruit trees restored. New trees and shrubs will be planted in the autumn. For example, lime-trees will blossom on Sadovaya-Triumfalnaya and Zemlyanoi Val streets, Ussuri pears will share their fragrance on Smolenskaya Square and Valovaya Street, elm trees will decorate Sadovaya-Spasskaya Street and Zubovsky Boulevard, rowan trees will brighten up Sadovaya-Chernogryazskaya and Zatsepsky Val streets, and alder trees will be planted on Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya and Nizhnyaya Krasnokholmskaya streets.

An equal road width has been maintained nearly all along the ring, which has made it possible to expand the pedestrian zone on most sections of the Garden Ring and prevent traffic bottlenecks.

Streetlamps have been replaced with energy-saving lights, and the pedestrian zone now has modern lights with a diffused glow, which makes it nice to walk along the Garden Ring at night.

New double-layered asphalt will be laid between Smolenskaya Square and Malaya Dmitrovka.

The 2016 My Street project plans include improving the Garden Ring section between Arbat and Dolgorukovskaya Street, including:

— Bolshaya Sadovaya Street

— Kudrinskaya Square

— Novinsky Boulevard

— Oruzheiny Pereulok

— Sadovo-Kudrinskaya Street

— Sadovo-Triumfalnaya Street

— Smolenskaya Square.

The first Moscow parade of urban equipment is a wonderful opportunity to see the results of the renovation on the Garden Ring this summer. A convoy of over 650 utility vehicles will drive along the Garden Ring starting at Barrikadnaya Street.

This parade is a unique event that will bring together not only utility vehicles but also other equipment, such as a hydraulic manipulator from the Moscow distribution electric grid company (MOESK) or a slime pump from the gas supplier Mosgaz.

For photographs of this project, go to the mos.ru archives.