Rublyovka grows by detour – Newspaper Kommersant No. 167 (7368) of 09/12/2022

The Federal Road Agency (Rosavtodor) plans for 22 billion rubles. build a new road in the west of the Moscow region. It will connect the city of Odintsovo, Rublevo-Uspenskoe, Mozhaisk and Minsk highways. A new interchange and a turning loop will appear on Rublyovka itself. The new route will become part of the Moscow Ring Road backup: in order for it to work at full capacity, a number of “bottlenecks” must be eliminated, experts point out.

FKU “Tsentravtomagistral” (an institution of Rosavtodor) announced tenders for the construction in several stages of a new 10-kilometer four-lane road that will connect Rublevo-Uspenskoe Highway, Mozhayskoye Highway and M-1 “Belarus”. The route, according to the materials from the public procurement portal, will be laid in the alignment of the existing Krasnogorskoye highway and will continue on the western side of the city of Odintsovo. The total amount of announced tenders is more than 22.3 billion rubles.

“The capital intensity of the project is associated with the need to build a large number of artificial structures,” the Federal Highway Agency explained to Kommersant. On the Rublevo-Uspenskoye Highway itself there will be transport interchanges and a U-turn loop. “The construction of these facilities will make it possible to eliminate the existing intersection at the same level, including with traffic lights, and increase the throughput of the site,” said Rosavtodor.

Plans to build a new road connecting Rublyovka with M-1 have been discussed since 2018. In 2020, Tsentravtomagistral was preparing the area for construction by cutting down the forest. On March 10, 2022, the Russian government ordered to allocate 54 billion rubles to Rosavtodor in 2022–2024. for road construction, including the reconstruction and construction of the Rublevo-Uspenskoye Highway.

The work will be carried out in stages, the Federal Highway Agency noted, depending on the allocated “financing limits”. Construction is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026. “Currently, preparatory work is underway related to the reconstruction of engineering communications and the purchase of land, the demolition of buildings and structures that fall into the right of way,” the road workers explained. “The cut green spaces that fall into the construction and reconstruction zone have been restored in full.”

The new road should be considered in conjunction with two other projects, Andrei Mukhortikov, a member of the public council at the regional Ministry of Transport, believes. He is referring to the new Moscow highway Solntsevo-Vidnoye-Butovo-Varshavskoye highway (some of its sections have already been put into operation) and the Yuzhno-Lytkarinsky highway near Moscow (construction began in August 2022), which will pass between Varshavskoye highway and the city of Zheleznodorozhny. “In this case, a large semicircle will appear, an understudy of the Moscow Ring Road. It will allow you to pass between the radial highways, without leaving them and without stopping by Moscow, ”explains the expert.

Mr. Mukhortikov notes a bottleneck in the project – the already existing overpass over the Minsk Highway, which passes no more than 1.5 thousand cars a day. At the same time, taking into account the construction of an understudy, the flow will increase to at least 2-3 thousand cars. “We need to think about the design and construction of a new flyover or the reconstruction of an existing one now. And not later, when it becomes a bottleneck and traffic jams begin,” emphasizes Mr. Mukhortikov.

Recall that Rosavtodor, the state company “Avtodor” and the authorities near Moscow are now building several major roads in the capital region. Among them are the Mytishchi Expressway and the Egorievskoye Highway backup (scheduled to open in 2024 and 2027 respectively), the M-12 Moscow-Kazan highway (its first section in the Moscow region opened yesterday), the Lobnya Northern bypass (partially open at the end of 2022). New interchanges are also planned on the Central Ring Road and further expansion of sections of the M-1, M-5 and M-8 federal highways.

Ivan Buranov