My Street main improvement works completed at almost 100 city sites

Main construction works under the My Street programme have been completed at almost 100 city sites, including the city’s main street – Tverskaya Street (from Nastasyinsky Pereulok to Triumfalnaya Square), Tverskaya Zastava and Lubyanskaya squares, Bolshaya Lubyanka Street, the Garden Ring, the Boulevard Ring and most of the embankments. Workers have already removed wooden walkways and security fences around the improved sections, and taken down temporary construction signs.

All of these streets are now open to pedestrians and cars. The construction workers placed overhead wires in the underground cable system and upgraded the utility and drainage systems where necessary. Pavements on the central streets, squares, boulevards and embankments were widened and paved with granite tiles. Workers also covered the roads with a new layer of asphalt and marked them, optimised the width of lanes to the regulated size, and eliminated the so-called bottlenecks (narrow sections of the road) where possible.

Main construction works at most of the sections have now been completed. But the city is still starting up and adjusting the street lighting and architectural façade lighting. Moreover, workers are now installing information display boards and signs, benches, waste cans, flower beds and keg planters for trees, renovating basement structures, installing surface transport shelters and drainage systems, and carrying out other ancillary works as well. The construction works will not cause any problems for pedestrians or drivers, Moscow’s Housing and Utilities Complex reports. Improvement works will be finished by the end of September – mid-October. Then the beautification will begin – workers will plant trees and lilac as well, since late autumn is the perfect time for transplanting this plant, too.

“We plan to plant the trees in late autumn, from November to December, when they will be dormant. Most of the shrubs, however, will be planted next year, from March to May: they take root much better when winter is over and the temperature is above zero,” said a representative of the Housing and Utilities Complex. Over 5,000 trees will be planted on Moscow squares, streets and city entrances under the My Street programme. They will be planted at over 40 city sites. The city will plant birch, oak, elm, linden, maple and chestnut trees in the improved areas. Moreover, mountain-ash trees, apple trees, bird cherry, shadbush, redbuds and lilac will be planted as well. These trees and shrubs easily adapt to the city environment. They were used for beautifying the Moscow streets before, too. The requirements for the contractors are very strict: not only do they have to deliver the plants and plant them in the ground, but they also have to maintain the plants afterwards. The maintenance period for each tree begins in 2017 and will continue for the next three years. All works, including the replacement of plants that fail to thrive, will be included in the contract price. At the same time, the costs of beautifying the improved streets will not exceed last year’s costs. The contractor will be fully responsible for maintaining the new trees and their adapting to the city environment.

After the construction works, traffic was reorganised at almost 20 streets in the Moscow centre. Six new designated lanes were established for public transport, and new parking lots were made for tour buses. New turns appeared at Prechistenskiye Vorota, Olimpiiysky Prospekt and Zubovsky Boulevard. Infrastructure for the new Kitai-Gorod transit hub was built at Slavyanskaya Square. Moreover, the lanes on the Boulevard Ring were reorganised, leaving one lane for each direction. A new public transit lane appeared as well. Workers separated the tram ways with granite kerbstones and made new safe tram stops. All changes to the Moscow traffic scheme are aimed at making the city centre more convenient and more accessible for public transport, as well as creating convenient routes to Moscow landmarks.

In 2017, 65 kilometres of city streets and squares are seeing improvement works under the My Street programme.