OREANDA-NEWS. Mostotrest is continuing to build the section of the Moscow-St Petersburg Highway running from Businovskaya Interchange to Festivalnaya Street. The new segment will link Businovskaya Interchange with Korovinskoye Highway and will later become the part of the Northern Beltway - the direct highway crossing Moscow from East to North, bypassing the centre of Moscow.

The state contract between the Moscow City Construction Department and Mostotrest was signed in December 2012. Mostotrest's specialists started construction works at the beginning of 2013. The project includes construction of a multi-level interchange on Festivalnaya Street, of overpasses alongside the October Railway, and the segment of the road from Businovskaya interchange to the entrance to the overpasses.

Mostotrest has now completed the main part of the construction of the four overpasses, with a total length of 1.5 km, which run parallel to the traffic way of Zelenogradskaya Street alongside the tracks of the Moscow section of the October Railway. Overpasses 1 and 2 cross each other and carry eight lanes of traffic (four in each direction). Overpasses 3 and 4 will extend overpass 2 and have four lanes running in the same direction, carrying the left-hand (Centre - Moscow Ring Road) and right-hand (Moscow Ring Road - Centre) traffic along the Northern Beltway. Overpass 5 leaves the main overpass 3 to provide a left-turn exit into Taldomskaya Street. Owing to the weak load-bearing capacity of the soil at the approach to overpass 1, the base between the retaining walls was reinforced with 1,272 14-metre-long driven piles and 160 bored piles. Overpasses construction involved laying 42,945 cu m of concrete and installing 287 reinforced concrete beams, and the total construction area is 47,385 sq m. Later the Mostotrest specialists will have to install the safety barriers and cast in-situ the road edge and the bridge deck of the overpasses.

While the two-level interchange at the intersection with Festivalnaya Street is underway the reconstruction of Festivalnaya Street from the existing roundabout at the junction with Petrozavodskaya Street to the Klinskaya Street off-ramp continues; the approach from Festivalnaya Street to the overpasses across the October Railway is being built. As part of this project the construction of three overpasses is continuing - to extend Festivalnaya Street over the railway and over Puteyskaya Street with an exit onto Taldomskaya Street. Also continuing is the reconstruction of a segment of Taldomskaya Street up to the intersection with Korovinskoye Highway and also the reconstruction of Puteyskaya Street in the area of the interchange. The interchange will include a total of 15 overpasses with a total length of 2.8 km.

On average 1,700 specialists per day are currently working on the project.

One feature of the project has been the need to remove car parking spaces, shops, stores, service centres and summer cottage properties from the construction zone. In addition, the builders have completed a significant amount of work on removing and refitting engineering networks in the construction zone, in particular, water pipes, gas pipes, heat networks, electrical cables, sewerage networks and rainwater drainage pipes.

The windows in apartment blocks located in direct proximity to the overpasses that are being built have been replaced with soundproof units. The project also includes erecting noise barriers to protect homes from traffic noise.

The Northern Beltway that is being built is located in the Northern Administrative District of Moscow. The new segment will link the Businovskaya Interchange with Korovinskoye Highway. The interchange at the intersection with Festivalnaya Street will create a transport link between the districts of Khovrino, Golovisnky and Zapadnoye Degunino, currently separated by the railway line. It will make it possible to improve the traffic situation both in these districts and entire Northern Administrative District.