Route M3 - the road to Kyiv

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

In the upcoming holiday season, many are planning to travel by private car. This is the time not only for relaxing in seaside resorts, but also for visiting friends and relatives living, among other things, in the former Soviet republics, such as Belarus and Ukraine. The M3 highway, popularly referred to as Kievka, leads to the border with the latter. It starts at the end of Leninsky Prospekt.

Leaving Moscow on it, the motorist begins to hope that the roads will soon be crossed out of the list of Russian troubles. However, this hope has yet to come true. But! First things first.

M3 highway - history and geography

The design of the modern route was started in 1938, its working route was laid from Moscow to Sevsk. The military operations in the forties made significant adjustments to the construction time, which accelerated in 1959. Over four years, about 400 kilometers of the track were built.

Asph alt concrete pavement appeared on the M3 during the reconstruction carried out in the late sixties - mid-seventies. At the same time, the width of the carriageway was increased. Since then, the global restructuring has been carried out only in the territory of the nearestsuburbs, in some areas local repairs were carried out and their condition is satisfactory, the rest is almost the same highway M3.

The map of the area along which the road is laid, speaks of its rather calm landscape, typical of the East European Plain. However, despite this, the track has several dangerous sections with sharp turns (50, 220 and 426 km) and dangerous ups and downs (245 km).

The road passes through four regions: Moscow, Kaluga, Kursk and Bryansk.

M3 highway – technical condition

The condition of the road varies quite a lot in different parts of it, but the asph alt surface is present throughout its entire length. So, on the territory of the Moscow region there are no serious complaints about the quality of the canvas, the markings and the readability of the signs. The emergency section of the road starts from the turn to Kaluga and stretches to the border of the Bryansk region: the quality of the asph alt is poor, there are potholes and ruts. Only one lane in each direction exacerbates the already difficult situation in the area. The second difficult segment of the journey starts after Bryansk and ends at the turn to Sevsk.

M3 highway – development prospects

Today we can definitely say that this road requires not just asph alt repair, but a global reconstruction, because the infrastructure of some of its sections has not changed since the sixties. In particular, it is necessary to increase the transport throughput and speed limits, since the route is the main one connectingMoscow and Kyiv. Some sections require an urgent increase in safety: construction of dividing fences, replacement of signs, widening of shoulders, and so on.

Fortunately, the strategic decision has been made. The M 3 highway is subject to a global reconstruction with an increase in the number of lanes in the narrowest sections to four in each direction. The work will be divided into stages, the implementation of which will take several years. According to preliminary data, the project implementation period is 2020. Alas, the road will become tolled, and alternative detours are still being discussed.