Moscow–Saint Petersburg motorway

Moscow–Saint Petersburg motorway
Aвтомагистраль Москва — Санкт-Петербург
Route information
Length: 700 km (400 mi)
History: First portions opened in 2014-2015
Major junctions
East end: Moscow
West end: Saint Petersburg
Highway system
Russian Federal Highways

The Moscow–Saint Petersburg motorway or М11[1] is a planned toll road between Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The first sections of the motorway were finished in 2014 and 2015. The road will run parallel to the M10 highway. Its construction has been met with strong protest from environmentalist groups and residents' groups, mainly around the Khimki forest.[2]

Route

Its route is parallel to the M10 highway. It will start in Moscow, will run via Moscow Oblast (90 km or 56 mi), Tver Oblast (253 km or 157 mi), Novgorod Oblast (233 km or 145 mi), Leningrad Oblast (75 km or 47 mi) to its destination in Saint Petersburg.[3]

Characteristics

History

The first section of the road going through the Khimki forest

On July 27, 2009, "Severo-Zapadnaya Concessionnaya Kompaniya" (North-West Concession Company, NWCC), a consortium comprising the VINCI company and other leaders signed a concession contract for the first section (15–58 km or 9.3–36.0 mi) of the motorway with the Federal Highway Agency of Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation (Rosavtodor), the grantor, in the presence of the Russian Minister of Transport, Mr Levitin. Total construction cost is estimated at approximately 1 billion Euros.[4]

On April 26, 2010, Vnesheconombank and Sberbank signed an agreement to grant "NWCC" a 29.2 billion-ruble credit with the order to build the first section of the motorway.[5]

Later, on August 26, 2010, President Medvedev suspended the construction after the environmentalists' protests against the motorway's route through the Khimki Forest. According to his decision, additional public and expert discussions are to be carried out.[6][7]

On December 14, 2010, Russian government decided to continue the construction through the Khimki forest. Speaking in St Petersburg, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said new forest would be planted on a territory of 500 hectares (1,200 acres) to compensate cutting down about 100 hectares (250 acres) of the Khimki forest.[8]

Construction

According to the Head of Rosavtodor, Anatoliy Chabunin, the construction was to start in October 2010 and would be finished in three years.[9]

On 28 November 2014, a 72 kilometres (45 mi) section of the Moscow–Saint Petersburg Motorway opened to traffic In Tver Oblast. The stretch runs from north of Torzhok to the northwest of Vyshny Volochyok, bypassing the latter city on the west. It is the first section of the Moscow–Saint Petersburg Motorway to open to traffic.[10] On 23 December 2014 the section between Moscow (junction with MKAD) and Solnechnogorsk, also opened. The whole motorway is planned to be opened in 2018.

Environmental protests

The motorway is planned to go through Khimki Forest. Environmentalists say the forest is a unique ecosystem that is home to centuries-old oak trees and many species of wildlife.[7]

Various groups have opposed the motorway's construction. Protests have been held and these have frequently been broken up by the police, involving what some have considered to be police brutality. Some protesters have also been attacked and intimidated, and two journalists – Mikhail Beketov from Khimkinskaya Pravda and Oleg Kashin from Kommersant[2] – have been beaten up in what are thought to be attacks linked to their coverage of the protests.[11]

Other people, such as people living near the present road, want to have the motorway.

References

  1. ↑ Перечень автомобильных дорог общего пользования федерального значения, утв. Постановлением Правительства Российской Федерации от 17 ноября 2010 г. № 928 (Russian)
  2. 1 2 Russia tries injured editor as fears for media grow, BBC
  3. ↑ РИАНовости (RIANews) Будущая платная трасса Москва-Петербург (in Russian)
  4. ↑ VINCI press release 27 July 2009
  5. ↑ Vnesheconombank website news. On Financing the Project to Build a High-Speed Motorway Moscow-Saint-Petersburg
  6. ↑ "Medvedev suspends disputed highway project". Russia Today. 2010-08-26.
  7. 1 2 "Medvedev suspends motorway project over forest concerns". BBC News. 2010-08-26.
  8. ↑ "Khimki forest motorway to be built by Russia". BBC News. 2010-12-14.
  9. ↑ Business New Europe. Construction of Moscow-St Pete toll road to start October., Business News Europe, August 10, 2010, via the Internet Archive
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ Russian president vows action after reporters attacked, BBC

External links

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