| City Hall will pay for an underground highway so students can go to the library Another supertunnel will appear in Moscow. As Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov announced last Saturday, part of the Fourth Transport Ring, passing along Lomonosovsky Avenue, will go underground. True, the need to build a tunnel under a long-existing highway raises some questions. Apparently, the mayor is once again trying to come up with a job for his favorite toy - the Herrenknecht tunneling shield, bought in Germany for more than $100 million.
The idea of building another tunnel, apparently, came to the mayor suddenly. Inspecting the new building of the fundamental library of Moscow State University, which is under construction on Saturday, located opposite the main building of the university on the other side of Lomonosovsky Prospekt, Mr. Luzhkov said that “to separate the library from the main building of Moscow State University is wrong both in urban planning and in terms of the comfort of life of the most famous university in the world.” . Obviously, remembering that until now the “fundamental building” was located in the city center on Mokhovaya Street and its transfer to Vorobyovy Gory cannot in any way be called a “separation” from the university, the mayor formulated another compelling reason for the construction of the tunnel. “The fourth transport ring also requires the organization of continuous traffic without traffic lights,” said Mr. Luzhkov. In other words, putting the highway underground will allow students to visit the library using an above-ground pedestrian crossing without the risk of being hit by a car. The safety of students, however, was taken into account in the original library construction project - it was assumed that the new building would be connected to the university building by an underground passage. However, for some reason the city authorities were interested in the possibility of building a road tunnel much more than the prospect of a low-budget crossing.
Most likely, this love of the city authorities for tunnel construction is largely explained by the desire to squeeze maximum profitability out of expensive special equipment purchased abroad. The German Herrenknecht tunneling shield, whose non-subsidence technology makes it possible to build tunnels under buildings and structures, was purchased for the construction of the Lefortovo tunnel. However, after this structure weighing 2,500 tons was delivered to Moscow, the estimate for the construction of the tunnel in Lefortovo was cut three times, and such a purchase became unprofitable. In order to somehow “recoup” the invested money, the city authorities proposed using a tunneling shield even to divert northern rivers, however, for some reason this idea did not cause a stir among potential investors. A godsend for the mayor's office was the possibility of building a tunnel under Serebryany Bor. But even there, the need for an underground route raises questions - since the Krasnopresnensky Avenue under construction will pass by the natural monument on top, and will go into a tunnel almost at the Moscow Ring Road itself. Decisive, however, was another consideration - it turned out to be very convenient to deliver the tunneling shield along the river on barges to Serebryany Bor. Apparently, Lomonosovsky Prospekt was chosen for future tunnel construction for the same reasons - the river is not far, and it’s just a stone’s throw from Serebryany Bor by water. Alexander GUDKOV |
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