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Tie-ups: With millions more cars in the streets, Russia's capital grows increasingly congested, polluted and perilous.
By Douglas M. Birch
Sun Foreign Staff
Summary prepared by Hayk Sargsyan of CDI
Since 1987, the number of cars in Moscow has nearly quadrupled, to nearly 3 million. Marina Vasilyeva, deputy chief of media relations for the traffic safety office, said there could be 5 million cars on Moscow's roads by 2010. No other major city in Europe or the United States has seen its traffic grow so fast, Western experts say. As a result, Moscow's streets are often outrageously congested, noisy and polluted. They're also increasingly perilous. Traffic deaths in Moscow rose almost 30 percent in the past three years, police say. Last year, 1,327 people died on Moscow roads, about 3 1/2 times the number in New York City, which has roughly the same population. "From a European and U.S. point of view, Moscow is one of the worst cities in terms of traffic," said Ben Eijbergen, senior transport specialist with the World Bank.
To cure the city's traffic sclerosis, Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has proposed drastic measures, including making the maze of streets in the central city one-way. But most of the city's energy is going toward paving more roads, building bridges and digging tunnels. Luzhkov said in January that, to relieve congestion, Moscow needs 210 more miles of expressway. Experts say the situation here is similar to that in U.S. cities in the 1950s. New roads were badly needed. But they filled up with traffic almost as soon as they opened.
Moscow has installed a system of automated traffic signals to regulate traffic flow, using a combination of in-ground detectors and a timing scheme based on an analysis of traffic patterns. But many of the detectors don't work, experts say, And the timing scheme appears to have been poorly designed. Not that it matters much. Moscow's traffic police -- known as the GAI (guy-EE) -- have traditionally controlled traffic lights from booths at major intersections. Most of the GAI refuse to relinquish control, and regularly override the automated lights, disrupting the system since any officer who lets traffic flow freely at one intersection creates bottlenecks down the line. Most Western cities transferred traffic control from police to transportation departments years ago. Western experts are urging Moscow to do the same.
Drunken driving is also a major problem, engineers and GAI officers agree. Ter Meulen's study found that alcohol plays a role in nearly three in 10 accidents here. Fines for drunken driving start at just $30.
Central Moscow is a parking paradise. Drivers park or double park just about wherever they choose -- at tram stops, on sidewalks, in crosswalks, in the middle of the street or in vacant lots. Limiting parking could stir fierce resistance among merchants but could also ease congestion, because it would nudge drivers into car pools, taxis or back to public transit.
If there is a forgotten man on Moscow's mean streets, it is the poor pedestrian. Drivers here don't yield to people on foot, even in crosswalks and on sidewalks. According to ter Meulen's study, 70 percent of traffic accidents involve pedestrians. Instead of creating more crosswalks, Moscow seems determined to build more tunnels; meanwhile, sidewalk space is being eaten up by cafes, kiosks, driveways and parking spaces of dubious legality.
"They're putting in more and more road infrastructure in the downtown area," Eijbergen said. "Where does this leave the pedestrian?"
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