Turbo, brothers, turbo – Kommersant newspaper No. 161 (7362) of 09/02/2022

Rosavtodor, Kommersant found out, abandoned the idea of ​​​​using turbo ring intersections unusual for Russia on country roads – they could be passed without practically slowing down. The possibility of using turbo rings was planned to be fixed in the new GOST, but the developers of the document abandoned the idea after analyzing foreign practice. According to them, the innovation can provoke traffic jams and accidents. Despite the decision of Rosavtodor, city authorities can still use turbo rings. Moscow, in particular, considers this way of organizing traffic successful and increasing the capacity of roads.

The possibility of using turbo rings, told Kommersant in March, was laid down in the draft standard, which is being developed by order of Rosavtodor. Turbo rings are called unusual intersections of roads with spiral lanes: cars drive strictly along designated lanes with minimal lane changes at almost full speed. In Russia, there are such roundabouts in Moscow, Cheboksary, Tyumen, but this is not a mass solution. But abroad – in Europe, South America, South Africa – they are more common. The GOST project provided for several options for turbo rings (for example, cranked, spiral and rotary).

Back in March, Rosavtodor said that turbo rings are one of the types of “modern roundabouts”. However, they disappeared from the new version of the standard, which Kommersant got acquainted with. “The public discussion of the standard aroused great interest among design, scientific and road organizations, as well as interested departments,” the Rosavtodor press service explained to Kommersant. To enter such an intersection, you must change lanes in advance. When leaving the left lane, the car enters the oncoming lane and “cuts off” the vehicle moving in its lane, which entails a gross violation of traffic rules.” The main reason for the refusal of turbo ring intersections is the risk of an increase in accidents, emphasized in Rosavtodor. “Immediately after the opening of traffic at such intersections in England, Holland and Canada, there was a surge in accidents and the formation of congestion,” they said. “Over time, the accident rate decreased, but turbo ring intersections remained places of constant traffic jams.”

The main problem faced by some Western countries (in particular, the Netherlands) is a change in the operating conditions of turbo-ring intersections after their construction, Mikhail Yakimov, director of the Transport Planning Institute of the Russian Academy of Transport, explained to Kommersant. He cites the example of a suburb of Amsterdam, where the airport was connected to a new bypass road, after which the traffic increased, and one of the turbo rings had to be eliminated. “Turbo roundabouts are not as versatile as conventional roundabouts,” adds Mr. Yakimov. “They oblige traffic organizers and operational services to constantly maintain readable markings at such intersections all year round. If it is absent, for example, in winter, traffic at such an intersection will no longer be unambiguously and correctly determined. In particular, conflicts may arise at the exit of vehicles, for example, from the second lane, the expert notes.

From the explanations of Rosavtodor, it follows that the standard being developed applies to intersections of suburban roads only. This means that cities and municipalities will still be able to design and build such intersections. There are five intersections with turbo rings in Moscow, Kommersant was told at the Moscow Traffic Management Center (TsODD), including in Zelenograd and Chertanovo. TsODD, unlike Rosavtodor, believes that this type of intersection reduces accidents and increases throughput by 20%. “We are monitoring the effectiveness of the new turbo intersections and will analyze where to introduce them again,” Kommersant was told at the TsODD.

The traffic police, which participated in the discussion of the standard, indicated that a number of the solutions proposed in the GOST generally contradict the traffic rules and do not have “scientific and theoretical justification and practice of successful experimental application.” In particular, rings were planned, the exit from which is organized from the left lane, with the possibility of driving cars along the edge strip of the central island (and in mountainous conditions and through the island), with the possibility of vehicles moving along the side of the road. In the new edition, these norms are excluded, Rosavtodor confirmed to Kommersant.

Ivan Buranov