Sergei Sobyanin: Renovation of Moscow streets ahead of schedule

Renovation of Zhitnaya and Korovy Val streets will soon be complete. This section of the Garden Ring has been improved as part of the My Street programme.

“Despite the bad weather, the regeneration of Moscow streets has been proceeding ahead of schedule. Two areas have been completed and eight more are almost finished. For example, the Boulevard Ring has been open to traffic for most of its stretch. Besides that, the first few renovated areas on the Garden Ring are about to be open. These are historic Moscow streets – Zhitnaya and Korovy Val. In addition to that, buildings facades, sidewalks and lighting have been improved. The work isn’t done yet, but there are facilities which are close to completion,” Sergei Sobyanin said.

The Mayor said the renovation work on the streets is to be completed by City Day. “We won’t wait for this date, though. We will open the areas as soon as we are ready to,” the Mayor noted.

Sergei Sobyanin also spoke with local residents, who said the transport situation improved on streets which have been repaired.

Korovy Val and Zhitnaya streets are located in the city centre between Kaluzhskaya and Serpukhovskaya squares. This is a unique section of the Garden Ring whose outer and inner rims bear different street names.

The name Korovy Val dates back to late 18th century when a cattle marketplace (Zhivotinny Dvor) was located on the square of the former Serpukhovskiye Gate square (today’s Serpukhovskaya Square). Since the market mostly specialised in the sale of cows, the part of Zemlyanoi Val separating the city and the vast cattle field was named Korovy Val (cow stands for ‘korova’ in Russian). The street preserved its name until 1952 when it was called Dobryninskaya. In 1990, the name was changed back. Today, Korovy Val is home to exits from Dobryninskaya metro station, several foreign embassies and the historic building of Burevestnik Cinema which is now houses Gradsky Hall Theatre. 

From the rule of Peter the Great until the 20th century, Zhitnaya Street included barns with grain. Today the street houses the Russian Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Justice, the Bank of Russia, an outpatient clinic, and a school.

In the 1960s, under the Garden Ring expansion project, buildings were knocked down on the side with odd numbers on Zhitnaya Street as well as on the side with even numbers on Korovy Val street, turning Zhitnaya and Korovy Val into one way streets.

Over the course of four months (April – July 2017) a number of activities have been conducted as part of the My Street project to upgrade Korovy Val and Zhitnaya Street and create a modern city environment. On Korovy Val, the number of traffic lanes remained the same. However, only two of the three 3.5m wide lanes have been available, with the third 5m wide lane being designated for public transport.

There are now four 3.5m wide lanes on Zhitnaya Street instead of three. The roadway has been repaved (32,200 square metres). Five surface public transport stops will soon be replaced with modern pavilions with Wi-Fi access and device charging points.

Pedestrian spaces have also been created. Pavements have been expanded by about two metres on Korovy Val street. On Zhitnaya Street, the pavement width has almost remained the same. They have all been paved with large granite slab (24,200 square metres) that will last for more than one decade whereas the previous cover lasted less than seven years. Granite curbing has also been installed. Parking on pavements has been banned. For this purpose, laybys have been added to roads.

Drainage systems and granite drainage gutters have been created. Old access gullies have been repaired and new ones have been fixed, as have inlet grates. Overhead wires have been placed under the ground as part of the cable-conduit system.

There are plans to install 129 benches, rubbish bins and other minor architectural features, 110 new energy efficient bulbs and 12 new streetlamps on sidewalks. Two information stands will provide navigation tips.

In all, 5,300 square metres of lawns have been planted. In autumn, there are plans to plant 97 lindens and maples and 5,885 shrubs. While maintaining the same road capacity as before launching the regeneration project, the streets’ pedestrian capacity has grown by almost one third from 3,800 to 5,000 people per hour.

The renovation included major and minor repairs of 13 buildings' facades and the washing of 11 buildings’ exteriors. The courtyard area near 4 Zhitnaya Street has been improved. The total renovated area is 6.3 hectares.

My Street 2017

This year, the My Street programme lists 89 city areas, including 113 streets and entrance roads, with a total length of 65 km.

These include:

-Boulevard, Garden and Kremlin rings and Tverskaya Street which have been under repair since 2016;

-Tverskaya Zastava Square, where tram tracks will be provided and the monument to Maxim Gorky will be returned to its historic site;

-Lubyanskaya Square and the territory adjacent to Polytechnic Museum;

-territory adjacent to Zaryadye Park;

-Yakimanskaya, Krasnopresnenskaya, Prechistenskaya and other embankments, 11 in total;

-Volkhonka, Prechistenka and other historic streets and lanes in the city centre.

The development project includes pavement expansion, additional lighting fixtures (over 6,000 support structures, including 1,400 historic streetlamps), additional landscaping (planting over 5,400 trees and 90,000 shrubs), and improving facades.

Workers will also install benches and other minor architectural elements (2,128), open over a hundred new pedestrian crossings, and place overhead wires below the ground (284 km of lines).

Other plans include installing two monuments – one to outstanding engineer Mikhail Kalashnikov in Oruzheiny Pereulok and The Wall of Mourning dedicated to victims of political repressions at the intersection of Akademika Sakharova Prospekt and the Garden Ring. Four fountains will appear on Bolotnaya Embankment, Birzhevaya Square and Balchug Street.

Over 26,000 people and over 5,000 units of construction machinery have been involved in the My Street renovation project. Work is complete on Novaya Square, Yakimanskaya Embankment and the adjacent Golutvinsky Pereulok side streets. Improvements to Slavyanskaya Square, Sretenka Street, Kitaigorodsky Proyezd, the Boulevard Ring, Petrovka Street, the Garden Ring (Zhitnaya Street, Korovy Val, Zemlyanoi Val and the square near the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry), Moskvoretskaya Street and Moskvoretskaya Embankment are almost complete. Construction machinery will soon be removed from the sites, followed by the opening of the areas to Muscovites and city guests.