Building the Solntsevo-Butovo-Vidnoye Road parallel to the Moscow Ring Road

Reducing MKAD congestion and linking cities

In its day, the Soviet government studied the possibility of building long lateral routes between federal motorways bypassing the MKAD. But Moscow authorities have started implementing this project only recently, after the incorporation of new territories.

The Solntsevo-Butovo-Vidnoye Road, now passing through the Troitsky and Novomoskovsky administrative areas, will soon become a city-level route. It will link several Moscow districts and the town of Vidnoye in the Moscow Region. Considering Moscow’s traditional radial-circular structure, these link roads between districts are essential for improving the transport situation.

The new Solntsevo-Butovo-Vidnoye Road will reduce congestion on the southwestern section of the MKAD being used by Moscow Region residents, people from other regions and thousands of Moscow residents from nearby densely populated districts. The road will eventually bypass the southwestern MKAD section. It will link the Borovskoye and Kievskoye motorways, pass through Kartmazovo and Prokshino and reach Kaluzhskoye Motorway. It will later be extended towards Varshavskoye Motorway and the town of Vidnoye.

A section between the Kaluzhskoye and Kievskoye motorways will help redistribute traffic flows and reduce congestion on radial routes near the MKAD. The road will be located near the Kommunarka administrative and business centre, a major growth point in the Troitsky and Novomoskovsky administrative areas. The new road will make this area more popular with potential investors and local residents.

The new link road will improve the transport situation for 350,000 people living in the Troitsky and Novomoskovsky administrative areas and towns in the Moscow Region. In turn, air passengers will be able to reach Vnukovo airport using an alternative route.

The new road will also spur the development of nearby communities and rural districts.

Tunnels, overpasses and pedestrian crossings

In October 2015, city authorities summed up the results of an open competition and selected a contractor for building a road between the Borovskoye and Kaluzhskoye motorways.

Work is underway to link the Kievskoye and Kaluzhskoye motorways and to build an access route towards the Salaryevo transit hub. In all, there are plans to build 21.7 kilometres of roads, nine overpasses, three tunnels, three pedestrian crossings and four sewage facilities. A 10-lane route between the Kievskoye and Kaluzhskoye motorways will have three lanes in each direction, plus two-lane side roads with designated transit lanes, making it possible to quickly reach stations of the metro’s Sokolnicheskaya Line by bus.

In November, the city will hold a tender to select the best general designer and general contractor to build the next leg of the Solntsevo-Butovo-Vidnoye Road. The successful bidder will have to link Kaluzhskoye Motorway with Polyany Street. There are plans to build a 2.9-kilometre road with six to 10 lanes from Kaluzhskoye Motorway towards the Stolbovo transit hub; 2.2-kilometres of side roads with two to four lanes are also scheduled to be built; 6.6 kilometres of side roads with three to four lanes will also link the Stolbovo transit hub with Alexandra Monakhova Street and Polyany Street. Five tunnels will be built at an intersection with Kaluzhskoye Motorway and the Kommunarka administrative and business centre. A 200-metre overpass will be built near a left-turn exit ramp towards the Stolbovo transit hub. Five pedestrian underpasses are also stipulated.

The metro’s Sokolnicheskaya Line is being extended from Salaryevo station towards Stolbovo. The 12.4-kilometre section will have four stations: Filatov Lug, Prokshino, Olkhovaya and Stolbovo.

Getting rid of traffic congestion

In 2011, the Moscow Government decided to improve the transport situation in the city. A new development strategy envisaging the expansion of the local road and street network, the elimination of bottlenecks and the creation of business hubs in outlying areas was eventually drafted. It was decided to build the North-West and North-East expressways, as well as the South Expressway, for eliminating these problems. Road-construction projects receive up to 70 percent of the city’s Targeted Investment Programme allocations.

In 2011-2015, the city’s main roads expanded by 10 percent or by 400 kilometres. In all, 118 bridges, overpasses and tunnels, or 20 percent of the city’s road structures, were opened, built or upgraded. The city also built 140 pedestrian crossings, eight radial routes and 12 transport interchanges intersecting with the MKAD.

Last year, the city completely upgraded Mozhaiskoye Motorway and motor roads in the town of Kommunarka linking it with Butovo, Bolshaya Akademicheskaya Street and Varshavskoye Motorway. Interchanges have been completed where the MKAD intersects with Leninsky and Ryazansky prospekts, and the Dmitrovskoye and Mozhaiskoye motorways. 

The world’s big-city administrations focus on linking outlying areas and reducing pressure on central areas, while expanding their road networks. Some big cities, including Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, Berlin and Paris, have their own beltways. Beijing tops the list, with six beltways, and a seventh beltway measuring about 900 kilometres is now under construction there.

Moscow is not lagging behind either, improving the situation near new roads and creating new centres of economic activity in outlying areas. Polycentric development is being prioritised.

The Dutch company TomTom has compiled a survey noting that, in late 2015, Mexico City posted the highest traffic congestion levels. The Mexican capital was followed by Bangkok, Istanbul and Rio de Janeiro, with Moscow placing fifth on the list. This is a rather optimistic assessment because in 2012-2013, Moscow was named the most congested city in the world.

The situation started changing in 2014, with TomTom dropping Moscow from first to fourth place. Experts noted that this was influenced by a new policy of city authorities, including the introduction of metered parking in central districts, improvements in road traffic organisation and efforts to promote public transit.