The Moscow - St. Petersburg highway has long been the most important, but at the same time, quite congested transport artery of the country. For many years, sovereign men have been beating their heads at solving the issue of excessive traffic flow between the two capitals of Russia. The new toll road Moscow - St. Petersburg should completely eradicate this problem. We will talk about the process of implementing this ambitious plan below.
Problems of the M10 highway
Between the two largest cities in Russia, the Moscow-St. Petersburg (M10) trunk highway has long been laid. This road has a long history, but, unfortunately, it does not cope with the traffic flow that passes through it. Movement in this direction is too intense. In addition, over the long time the highway has existed, numerous cities, villages and towns have grown in its path, which significantly reduces the throughput of the road, since in settlements according to the rules of the road rules, it is necessary to significantly reduce the speed of vehicles.
In addition, the state of the St. Petersburg-Moscow highway, due to its many years of operation, requires constant repairs. This greatly complicates the movement of large traffic flows on it.
All of the above factors contribute to the fact that the Moscow - St. Petersburg route is congested, it has a very high accident rate, and traffic jams and congestion often occur in several places.
Ways to solve the problem
The leadership of the country has been thinking about the solution of this problem for a long time. In fact, there were two ways out of the situation.
The first of them was half-hearted. It consisted in a major reconstruction of the existing M10 highway and its expansion by adding additional lanes.
The second option was much more radical. He suggested the construction of a completely new route, which was supposed to significantly relieve the old M10 highway, thereby reducing the traffic on it vehicles to an acceptable level.
Of course, the second way to solve the problem is much more expensive, but it allows you to solve it radically, and not just preserve it for a while.
So the idea of ​​building the M11 motorway: Moscow - St. Petersburg.
Track design development
For the first time, the idea of ​​creating a new road between the country's largest megacities was put forward by the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin in 2005. At the same time, a decision was made by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation to begin construction of the M11 motorway: Moscow - St. Petersburg.
The relevant planning documentation on the required investments for the construction of a separate section of the highway was prepared in January next year. But only in 2008, a tender was held to select a contractor for the construction of this section. It turned out to be LLC North-West Concession Company.
By this time, the construction plan of the entire route was ready. The estimated cost of all the work at that time was 350 billion rubles, and it was fully planned to complete them by 2012.
Toll track
Of course, after the construction of the new road, most motorists who previously traveled along the old highway would decide to move along the new and more modern - M11. Thus, now this highway would be overloaded, and the problem would not be solved. Therefore, it was necessary to create conditions so that the flow of vehicles did not completely switch to the new highway, but only partially, thereby unloading the old highway.
Therefore, it was decided that the new track should be paid. The Moscow-St. Petersburg road is a rather expensive undertaking, so the funds that will be collected from drivers for the trip are planned to be used in the future by concessionaires to cover their current construction costs.
The planned fare is on average from 2 to 2.5 rubles. for one kilometer. In different sections of the road the price will be different. In addition, the tariff will depend on the type of vehicle, the period of the day, the frequency of use of the Moscow - St. Petersburg highway. The cost of the entire trip in one direction, according to one of the officials, will vary from 1,100 to 1,200 rubles. But still, the final price of movement throughout the highway has not yet been officially announced.
Technical characteristics of the track
Distance Moscow - St. Petersburg is 634 kilometers. For natural reasons, it cannot be absolutely direct. Therefore, the toll road Moscow - St. Petersburg under construction will have a length of 684 km. This is not so much. For comparison: the distance Moscow - St. Petersburg along the current M10 highway reaches 706 km.
The width of one lane of the road will be 3.5 m, and the number of lanes themselves will vary from four to ten. On such a highway, it is possible to safely develop speeds of up to 150 km / h.
Type of road surface - asphalt.
Throughout the route, it is planned to build structures for rainwater runoff, as well as landscaping adjacent to the highway.
Motorway route
Like the M10 highway, the Moscow – St. Petersburg toll road will be laid along the territory of the Novgorod, Tver, Moscow and Leningrad regions. Within the Moscow region, its length will be 90 kilometers, Tver - 253 kilometers, Novgorod - 233 kilometers and Leningrad - 75 kilometers. In addition, the highway in the form of a highway will pass through the territory of St. Petersburg and Moscow (32 and 19 km, respectively).
The Businovskaya interchange in Moscow will be considered the starting point of the highway, and the city of St. Petersburg will be considered the final point.
Road construction process
In 2010, contractors began the direct construction of the route. Work began from the mark of the Moscow-St. Petersburg highway, km 15. This stretch went all the way to km 58.
But due to environmental protests, work had to be curtailed. They resumed only in the fall of 2011, which significantly delayed the implementation of the project.
Since that time, active work has been ongoing on all sections of the future route. In the summer of 2015, construction began in the Nizhny Novgorod and Leningrad regions. The last contractor is LLC “Highway of Two Capitals”. This society is also a concessionaire.
In November 2014, the first section of the Moscow-St. Petersburg highway was opened for operation, passing near the city of Vyshny Volochek. Since the summer of 2015, it has already begun to collect a fee from drivers.
To date, an estimated deadline for the completion of all work is scheduled for 2018. It is planned that the track should be fully prepared for the start of the world soccer championship, which will be held in Russia.
The total planned cost of work is 152.8 billion rubles.
Environmental protests
As mentioned above, the organizers of the construction of the road had to face environmental protests. They were connected with the fact that the route was supposed to pass through the Khimki forest, dissecting it into two approximately equal parts. For the full-fledged functioning of the highway, trees were to be cut down in those forest areas through which it would pass.
This caused a wave of indignation of a number of environmental organizations. Almost from the very beginning of construction in 2010, protests began to take place. In this regard, the construction of the road had to be temporarily curtailed.
Only in 2011, work was able to begin anew. It was decided to compensate the total forest fund by planting trees in other places.
There was also a conflict near the Zavidovo National Park. But he managed to settle it.
The fact is that after the adoption of the highway construction plan, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree according to which Zavidovo National Park received additional territories, including those where the new highway was supposed to pass. Naturally, after this, environmental organizations began to insist that the route be moved to another place. It even came to protests. But such a departure from the original plan was not economically feasible. Therefore, it was decided to lay the route in the place where it was planned, and to allocate the park with lands in another area.
General perspectives
The main purpose of the M11 highway under construction, Moscow - St. Petersburg, is to unload the existing M10 motorway and bring the level of traffic along this route to international standards. An additional incentive for the speedy completion of work is the World Cup, which is scheduled for 2018 in Russia. By the same date, the full commissioning of the new highway is planned.
Thus, the Russians and guests of our Motherland will receive a new modern expressway. It will be possible to develop a speed of up to 150 km / h. For comparison, on the current M10 highway, the maximum speed is only 90 km / h, and the real average speed on it in the Moscow region due to traffic jams and traffic jams is only about 10 km / h. Of course, this is unacceptable.
The new road, after its commissioning, promises to solve most of the problems associated with movement along the Moscow - St. Petersburg route and vice versa.