Rush hours in big cities are always associated with giant traffic jams. Every year there are more and more cars, which means that the problem is only progressing all the time. Even broad-lane highways do not always cope with heavy traffic. Traffic congestion occurs for a variety of reasons. One of the reasons is the repair work of the heating main or the asph alt pavement itself. Traffic accidents are often the cause of traffic jams. However, even more often the huge number of cars that the road, designed for traffic twice or even three times less than it actually is, is a real disaster.
Building a new road is the right solution to traffic jams
No matter how correctly the words of N. V. Gogol, who clearly articulated the causes of Russia's troubles back in the 19th century, correctly reflected the situation in our country, enough attention has been paid to roads lately. Especially often new roads are being built in our two capitals, where the bulk of budget money is deposited. Perhaps this is how it should be? After all, the capitals, both the main and the northern ones, are, as it were, the face of the entire state. But let's get down to business. Not so long agoa decision was approved to build a toll high-speed highway in St. Petersburg, called the Eastern High-Speed Diameter.
Several investors will take part in this project at once. It should be noted that Smolny has already signed agreements with some of them. Banks VTB and EDB are designated as official participants in the construction. Agreements with other companies are still under negotiation. This is due to the fact that the city wants to minimize budget costs and cover the financial part of the project through investments.
Eastern High Speed Diameter St. Petersburg
So what is the new toll road in St. Petersburg? Presumably it will be a six-lane highway with a total length of 22.6 kilometers. It is planned that it will start from Blagodatnaya Street and stretch through the Krasnogvardeisky, Nevsky, Frunzensky, Moskovsky and Kirovsky districts of the city. Then the road will join that part of the Ring Road, which is located north of the village of Kudrovo. Further, the Eastern High-Speed Diameter will pass to the Murmansk Highway and touch the intersection with it. In addition, it is known that Smolny concluded an additional agreement with the management of the construction project on the construction of new interchanges.
Controversial design issues
Most of the disputes and hype that barely subsided in St. Petersburg in connection with the recent construction of the Western High-Speed Diameter were related to the city's financial claims against the project's investors. But despite this, there is already a new one on the nosethe project is the construction of the Eastern High-Speed Diameter. It was first announced back in 2016. Backbone routing was not well defined at that time.
Although at present the project of the new route is considered approved, however, to this day there are many unresolved issues related to the laying of a new highway. Suffice it to say that some Petersburgers wrote letters to the president, where they expressed their worries about the fact that the highway would stretch right over their heads. Residents of the Krasnogvardeisky and Nevsky districts expressed particular indignation. Among them were the owners of garages built on the territory of the proposed highway and in its immediate vicinity.
When considering all the controversial issues, it was decided to change the route of the Eastern High-Speed Diameter in favor of the interests of the townspeople. Some identified design errors have also been corrected.
Financial obligations of investors
The previously named main investors announced the specific figures of the funds they intend to invest in this project. Thus, VTB Bank announced the amount of investment in the amount of 110 billion rubles. Following his example, the Eurasian Bank EDB expressed its readiness to support the Eastern High-Speed Diameter project in the amount of 150 billion rubles. But since both banks are far from the only planned investors, it is still difficult to see the full picture of investments at this stage of financing. The head of the Investment Committee, Irina Babyuk, said thatthey prefer to recoup all the costs of the highway only with the help of serious investors. And the more of them join the project, the better it will be for St. Petersburg and the region.
Will there be a bridge across the Neva
Returning to unresolved issues, it should be noted that the main point of discussion of the Eastern High-Speed Diameter project was not only design errors of the highway, but also the dilemma about crossing the Neva between Fayansovaya and Zolnaya streets. Two options for resolving the problem were proposed here. The first option is to build a bridge. But at the same time, the protected view of the city is violated. The second option is to build a tunnel. However, in this case, the price of construction increases sharply. On which of the options officials will stop is still unclear. In addition to the fact that the implementation of the project will continue for five years, there is no more reliable official information. Most likely, the megaproject will not take on real shape until 2018.
What is clear exactly
Answering this question, we can confidently state that there will be an Eastern High-Speed Diameter in St. Petersburg. And this decision is indicated quite clearly. Of course, much remains to be decided in the last months of the outgoing year. For example, to determine the financial model of the project. If we recall the planning of the Western Highway, then most of the funds for its construction were allocated from the federal and citybudget. Nevertheless, the authorities of St. Petersburg are firmly in the position of financing a new project at the expense of investors.
And this will probably be the best model compared to the previous project. It's no secret that where a lot of money is invested, there are officials who want to profit and appropriate some part of it for their own benefit. Perhaps the investing banks will be better able to control the costs of their investments than the representatives of the city authorities do. After all, who, if not investors, is more interested in the targeted use of their funds than others. But for now, it's all just dreams and speculation. And how everything will actually happen - time will tell.
