Maxim Bogdanovich Street
Ten radial avenues and four ring-roads are to be built — to connect Minsk with other cities countrywide. During recent discussion of the capital’s general plan, the northern road leaving Minsk — Logoisky Trakt — came under scrutiny. Yakub Kolas Street needs to be reconstructed, with some high-rise buildings demolished to allow widening of the road.
Minskgrado’s chief architect, Alexander Akentiev, explains, “Reconstruction is economically too costly; it cannot be justified. With this in mind, we’ve chosen a different solution: developing Shirokaya Street and a section of Bogdanovich Street (connecting Shirokaya and Nekrasov streets).”
A new avenue is planned towards Logoisk and a third metro line is to be laid along Bogdanovich Street, connecting residents of this district to the centre of Minsk.
Construction of new avenues and highways should reduce city traffic. However, as the Chairman of the Belarusian Association of Transport Experts and Surveyors, Yuri Vazhnik, admits, new roads do not always solve the problem of traffic jams.
“Paid parking in the city centre is the solution, as well as payment for transit through the centre and development of speedy public transport,” he explains.
By Valeria Gavrusheva
