Sergei Sobyanin: Tverskaya Zastava Square to be completely improved soon
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Tverskaya Zastava Square will completely blend in with the city once again after a ten-year long construction period. Local work has almost been completed, said Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
“We have decided to restore this square, to return the monument to Alexei “Maxim” Gorky to its original location, to provide the city with this historical square once again and to make it one of the best squares near one of Moscow’s railway stations. Therefore we are returning one square after another to city residents, we are converting them into high-quality public spaces where thousands of people are already happily walking ,” Mr Sobyanin said.
The renovated square will become a pedestrian area, and it will also handle vehicle traffic; railway passengers will also be able to change to surface transportation here.
The city is also focusing on preserving the capital’s historical past. “I believe that Moscow’s public spaces and its squares are equally, if not more, precious, for the city, and they must be protected in the same way. All city residents must respect their history. We are upgrading square after square and returning them to the city; and I believe this is a predictable, correct and fair historical process,” Mr Sobyanin noted.
The completion of the work on Tverskaya Zastava Square ends the protracted Greater Leningradskoye Motorway (Bolshaya Leningradka) project aiming to build and improve the entire route between Manezhnaya Square and the Moscow Ring Road (MKAD).
“Tverskaya Zastava Square is essentially the terminus in upgrading a long route from the MKAD interchange, the Alabyana Street-Baltiiskaya Street Underpass (Alabyano-Baltiisky Tunnel), in upgrading Leningradsky Prospekt and Tverskaya Street, and, being the central cluster, this square is, of course, rather difficult when it comes to the utilities and traffic,” Mr Sobyanin noted.
Today, Tverskaya Zastava Square is part of a major transit hub/link where the 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya and Lesnaya streets, Leningradsky Prospekt, Butyrsky Val and Gruzinsky Val intersect.
The square accommodates Belorussky Railway Station, the Belorusskaya metro stations of the Circle and Zamoskvoretskaya lines (Lines No. 5 and 2), as well as nine surface transit routes.
“We are increasing the number of stops several times over, extending tram tracks and building a tram turnaround. This will make it possible to reduce the distance between the railway station and the tramlines by 500 metres,” Mr Sobyanin added. New-generation trams will run on the square, he said.
Parking space and overpass: Previous construction projects for Tverskaya Zastava Square
City authorities started discussing various options for upgrading Tverskaya Zastava Square in the 1980s but no one had been realized. Instead numerous kiosks were eventually built here, and the square lost its unique historical image.
In 2003, the city decided to build an underground car park, a shopping mall and a major transportation interchange here under the then urban development policy.
Under the project, the monument to Alexei “Maxim” Gorky that had stood here since 1951 was removed from the square in 2005. Built to a design by sculptor Ivan Shadr and architect Mikhail Barshch, the old monument was removed and taken to the Muzeon Park of Arts. The construction project also began in 2005 but had to be halted due to the crisis between 2008-2010. In 2011, the local authorities decided against building a shopping mall here.
Several years later, the city renounced the construction of a major transportation interchange on Tverskaya Zastava Square. The overpass would have improved the traffic situation but would also have irreparably damaged the district’s architectural image. Residents of buildings along Leningradsky Prospekt also opposed this project.
Between 2012-2016, the city eliminated the negative consequences of previous construction projects on the square; a temporary one-level car park was established here, and the area was partly improved.
Square and tram: the new image
This year Tverskaya Zastava Square was included on the upgrading list under the My Street programme. The work on it started in June and is expected to be completed in August.
The total upgrading area amounts to 5.8 hectares. Its transportation pattern was elaborated by the Department for Transport and Road Infrastructure Development in cooperation with the Traffic Management Centre. They considered the remarks made by the traffic police, Mosgortrans (state-owned company operating bus, trolleybus and tram networks in Moscow and Moscow Region), the Moscow Parking Lot Administrator, as well as domestic and international transportation experts.
Using the transportation pattern, West 8 (an urban planning and landscape architecture firm) founded by Adrian Geuze, prepared a project for reconstructing the square. The project preserves a large transportation hub near Belorussky Railway Station and makes the square elegant and passenger friendly.
The project provides for a public garden with a monument to Maxim Gorky, extension of pavements, construction of convenient parking spaces, repairs of the façade of the St Nicholas Church of the Tver Old Believers and upgrading of the adjacent territory.
The tram will return to Tverskaya Zastava Square. Its tracks will go from Lesnaya Street to form a turnaround.
Public transportation stops will be moved closer to the square; bottlenecks will disappear from the roads, ruling out chaotic change of lanes.
Pedestrian area
The space linking the Belorussky Railway Station and the metro, as well as the passage to 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street will form the main pedestrian area. Pavements will be expanded up to 10 metres in some places and covered with large paving stones. It will be made from domestic granite produced by the Kambulatovskoye (Urals), Baltic (Leningrad Region) and Mansurovsky (Bashkiria) deposits.
Ten existing ground level pedestrian crossings will be supplemented with another 12. All overhead wiring will be concealed in the underground, which will give a better view of the square and the facades of restored buildings. Rainwater drains will be installed in the pavements. In all, the builders have laid 824 metres of water outlets, 403 metres of storm water drainage with 67 gutter inlets and 99 observation wells.
In addition to all this, the square will have over 200 street lanterns, 47 benches, 59 rubbish bins and 11 navigation equipment units with Wi-Fi access.
A café will be opened in the restored tram pavilion terminal on an area of 180 square metres in total.
Monument and square
The restoration of the public garden with lime and apple trees will play the main role in the upgrading of Tverskaya Zastava Square. It will have about 10,000 square metres of lawns and 87 trees: 76 Pallida lime trees and 11 Red Sentinel apple trees. Trees and shrubs will separate the pedestrian area from the traffic lanes, protect people against dust from the roads plus the noise and will also make the square quieter as well as safer.
The monument to Maxim Gorky will again dominate the square. Since last May the sculpture has been cleaned, the corrosion it had has been dealt with and the cracks patched up. Parts of the pedestal have been restored and covered with a preservative compound. Stylobate granite blocs have been also restored, and the inscription no longer has any missing words. The ceremony of returning the monument to its historical place was held on 31 July.
Space for trams, buses and also cars
The tram turn- around at Tverskaya Zastava Square stop will become the natural extension of the route which at present ends in Lesnaya Street. The new route will be 1.22 km long.
The line will cross driveways only at Lesnaya and 1stTverskaya-Yamskaya Streets intersection. The traffic will not stop: trams will have enough time to move onto the square while at the same time letting traffic through.
Modern low-noise Vityaz M trams with air conditioners and CCTV cameras will run along this route. They are good for disabled people and have 6 doors allowing passengers to quickly get on and off of the trams.
There will be two different tram routes. Route 7 that ran to Belorussky Railway Station now will go along Palikha and Lesnaya streets instead of Sushchyovskaya Street. Route 9 will connect Belorussky Railway Station and Novoslobodskaya metro station.
According to the project, the organization of the new tram lines will increase passenger numbers from 17,500 to 30,000 people per day. Passengers will be able to travel to the Moscow State University of Railway Engineering, Olimpiysky Sport Complex, the Durov Animal Theatre, Sokolniki Park and other popular locations.
For example, the ride from Belorussky Railway Station to the Olimpiysky Sport Complex will only take 23 minutes.
The improvement will result in a better transportation system. The distance between the exits from Belorussky Railway Station to surface stations will decrease fivefold on average: 50-150 metres. The total number of stations will increase to 11. Thus, interchanges will become more passenger- friendly, the flow will be redistributed and the traffic load on Belorusskaya station (Line 2 and 5) will decrease.
The traffic will be regulated by 60 synchronized traffic lights. Also, the square will have car, bus and taxi parking places, it will be easy for buses driving from Leningradsky Motorway to turn at the tram turn-around and then take the straight road from Gruzinsky Val Street to Lesnaya Street.
Old- Believers church
There is going to be a convenient pedestrian zone right in front of the church of Saint Nicholas of the Tverskaya Old-Believers Community (8/3 Butyrsky Val Street). The church was consecrated in 1921 and functioned for 20 years. During the Second World War it was used as an air defence warehouse and after that, art workshops were held there by sculptor Sergei Orlov, one of the creators of the Yury Dolgoruky monument.
In 1993, the church was returned back to the Russian Old-Believers Orthodox Church. It wasn’t until the year 1995 that congregations gathered once again at the church to worship.
By October, six sculptures at the front will be repaired plus the façade and the roof. There’ll also be new drainpipes.
Finishing touches of the Great Leningradka project
Renovating Tverskaya Zastava Square will round off the Bolshaya (Greater) Leningradka project.
Complex roadworks have been on going on the Tverskaya Street – Leningradsky Prospekt – Leningradskoye Motorway outbound route since the middle of the 2000s.
Now there are both tunnels and flyovers. This allows traffic to flow easily through most intersections without the need for any traffic lights. The most famous project construction is the Alabyano-Baltiisky Tunnel which was finished in December 2015.
In 2012, the reconstruction of the junction at the intersection of Leningradskoye Motorway and the Moscow Ring Road was completed, in 2014, the reconstruction of the Leningradsky flyover at the intersection with the Moscow Central Circle tracks came to an end.
In 2015, a 14.8 km-long section of Leningradsky Prospekt and Leningradskoye Motorway was upgraded, as well as the nearest neighbourhoods, parks and green spots.
Overhead wiring was buried in a 26.2 km long underground trench, and more than 1,100 illegal billboards were dismantled along the motorway. There are now two new parks for residents who live on 17/19 Pravdy Street and near 7 Pribrezhny Proyezd.
In 2016, lindens were planted again on Tverskaya Street, and the pavements were widened. This year, 54 new trees are to be planted at the second section of Tverskaya Street and 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street. After that, a convenient urban environment will be created along the entire length of the magistral route 18 kilometres in total from Manezhnaya Square to the Moscow Ring Road.