The average speed of road traffic in Moscow is twice as slow as usual thanks to a city reconstruction program, the state Road Traffic Agency said on Friday.
“The speed of traffic in central Moscow has decreased by 50 percent,” the agency’s press service said. The agency has recommended drivers not to use the central zone of the city and to use Moscow’s Third ring road instead.
This summer, Moscow is carrying out nearly $200 million worth of reconstruction work on the city's Garden Ring road. The scheduled works include paving the sidewalks with granite, installing drainage infrastructure, replacing manhole and rain gutter covers and adding benches, trash cans, trees and lawns.
But as in 2016, when Moscow renovated much of central Novy Arbat street, the construction has proven a major burden on commuters.
Moscow has consistently ranked as one of the most traffic congested cities in the world. In the most recent traffic ranking by INRIX Research, released in February, Moscow took second place. According to INRIX, the only city on earth with worse road congestion was Los Angeles, California.
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