Some exits to the Third Transport Ring in the Moscow City area will be closed due to further development

The organization of traffic in the Moscow City area will seriously change: the authorities intend to eliminate part of the exits to the business district from the Third Transport Ring (TTK), build a tunnel and new side passages, and reconstruct the surrounding streets. This is necessary for the expansion of the “Big City” and new business development. The modified traffic pattern will make it possible to redistribute traffic flows, say the Moskomarkhitektura – but experts fear that the innovations could complicate the already difficult traffic in the City area.

Plans for the reconstruction of the interchange between the Third Transport Ring and Shmitovsky Proezd are described in a draft resolution of the Moscow government, which is undergoing public discussion on mos.ru. “In connection with the development of the MIBC territory (Moscow International Business Center.— “Kommersant”) “City” and the promising development in this area required a revision of the transport service plan for the territory,” explained Kommersant at the Moskomarkhitektura.

The exits from the Third Transport Ring to Shmitovsky Proezd and from there to the ring will be eliminated (this is the first time in the history of the Third Transport Ring, which, we recall, was built in 1998–2005). It is planned to build a new street from Shmitovsky Proezd to Antonova-Ovseenko Street along the Third Transport Ring, and a tunnel will run along the 2nd Krasnogvardeisky Proezd. Antonov-Ovseenko streets, Exhibition Lane, sections of Podvoisky Street, Shmitovsky Proezd, Presnenskaya and Krasnopresnenskaya embankments will be reconstructed. There are no specific construction dates yet.

The project was needed for the “comprehensive development of the territory” bounded by the 1st and 2nd Krasnogvardeisky passages, Antonova-Ovseenko street, the Third Transport Ring and Shmitovsky passage. “Public, business and residential development is planned here,” explained the Moskomarkhitektura. We are talking about the Kamushki microdistrict, whose residents will be resettled as part of the renovation program. In 2021, Deputy Mayor of Moscow Andrei Bochkarev mentioned plans to develop this territory; the city created a joint company with Capital Group for this purpose. In March 2023, a rendering of a future skyscraper in this location appeared online, but the chief architect of Moscow, Sergei Kuznetsov, said that the drawings were fiction. The fate of the project is currently unknown. The Department of Urban Development Policy of Moscow and Capital Group did not promptly answer Kommersant’s questions.

“As part of the assessment of transport services for the territory, work was carried out to determine transit and internal transport correspondence, an analysis was carried out of the perception of additional loads by the existing road network,” the Moscow Committee for Architecture told Kommersant. “When considering the general scheme of transport services for the territory of the Big City, a reconstruction is proposed existing transport hubs, as well as the construction of new transport intersections. The elimination of exits will allow redistributing traffic flows and creating a transit direction to the center.”

“This could be a big blow for traffic—new traffic jams are inevitable,” says Alexander Shumsky, head of the Probok.net expert center. He recalls that in early September, due to the launch of a backup route for Kutuzovsky Prospekt, the authorities partially closed the exits from the Third Transport Ring to the City area, which created additional traffic jams. “If the exits to Shmitovsky are also closed, it will become worse: they are now used by up to 1.5 thousand cars per hour, this is quite a lot,” explains the expert. “And we do not yet know the height of future skyscrapers and how many people there will be there – from it depends on how many additional cars will arrive.”

“When creating the Third Transport Ring, the designers tried to connect the ring with the existing road network,” adds Mikhail Yakimov, director of the Institute of Transport Planning of the Russian Academy of Transport. “But in the area of ​​​​the business center, the opposite situation is observed – they are maximally isolated and their own internal transport infrastructure is created. This trend is likely to continue. The number of connections with the TTK will be reduced.” “In the City itself, the road network today is working at its limit, why create more analogues nearby? – adds Alexander Shumsky. “It is clear that this is all very profitable from the point of view of making money, but from the point of view of the development of the city and traffic, the prospect is dubious.”

The capital’s Traffic Organization Center (TCOC) confirmed to Kommersant that they were considering this project and assessing its impact on traffic. “The city is changing, the number of residents and the level of motorization are growing,” they say at the center. “To keep traffic on the roads comfortable and safe, you need to constantly adapt to changes. As construction work in the City is completed, data center specialists will use traffic management tools to ensure that traffic flows are redistributed evenly and the traffic situation for Muscovites does not worsen.”

Ivan Buranov, Alexandra Mertsalova