MKAD
Encyclopedia
Ring road
A ring road, orbital motorway, beltway, circumferential highway, or loop highway is a road that encircles a town or city...
encircling the City of Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
.
The acronym is a transliteration of the Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
МКАД, for Московская Кольцевая Автомобильная Дорога (transliteration: Moskovskaya Koltsevaya Avtomobilnaya Doroga, or Moscow Automobile Ring Road).
The growth of traffic in and around Moscow in the 1950s made the city planners realise Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
's largest metropolis
Metropolis
A metropolis is a very large city or urban area which is a significant economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections and communications...
needed a bypass
Bypass (road)
A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety....
to redirect incoming traffic from major roads that run through the city. Opened in 1961, the MKAD had four lanes of asphalt
Asphalt
Asphalt or , also known as bitumen, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid that is present in most crude petroleums and in some natural deposits, it is a substance classed as a pitch...
running 108.9 kilometres along the city borders. Although not yet a freeway, it featured interchanges
Interchange (road)
In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...
at major junctions
Junction (road)
A road junction is a location where vehicular traffic going in different directions can proceed in a controlled manner designed to minimize accidents. In some cases, vehicles can change between different routes or directions of travel.-Origins:...
, very few traffic light
Traffic light
Traffic lights, which may also be known as stoplights, traffic lamps, traffic signals, signal lights, robots or semaphore, are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings and other locations to control competing flows of traffic...
s and a speed limit of 100 km/h (62 mph). Among drivers it was known as "The Road of Death" for very poor lighting.
For a long time the MKAD served as the administrative boundary of Moscow city, until in the 1980s
Moscow started annexing territory outside of the beltway. In December 2002 Bulvar Dmitriya Donskogo
Bulvar Dmitriya Donskogo
Bulvar Dmitriya Donskogo is the southern terminus and the newest station of the Serpukhovsko-Timiryazevskaya Line of the Moscow Metro. It is the first station of the system built outside of the MKAD beltway encircling most of the city. The station opened on 26 December 2002...
became the first Moscow Metro
Moscow Metro
The Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...
station that opened beyond the limits of MKAD.
In 1995-1997 the road was widened from the initial four to ten lanes, while all intersections
Intersection (road)
An intersection is a road junction where two or more roads either meet or cross at grade . An intersection may be 3-way - a T junction or fork, 4-way - a crossroads, or 5-way or more...
became grade-separated
Grade separation
Grade separation is the method of aligning a junction of two or more transport axes at different heights so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other transit routes when they cross each other. The composition of such transport axes does not have to be uniform; it can consist of a...
, bridges were built to accommodate pedestrians, traffic lights were removed, and a solid concrete barrier was installed in the median. In 2001 all slow-moving vehicles were banned from entering the MKAD and the renovated road received a freeway designation from the mayor's office.
See also
- Garden RingGarden RingThe Garden Ring, also known as the "B" Ring , is a circular avenue around the central Moscow, its course corresponding to what used to be the city ramparts surrounding Zemlyanoy Gorod in the 17th century....
in Moscow - Boulevard RingBoulevard RingThe Boulevard Ring is Moscow's second centremost ring road . Boulevards form a semicircular chain along the western, northern and eastern sides of the historical White City of Moscow; in the south the incomplete ring is terminated by the embankments of Moskva River...
in Moscow - Third Ring Road in Moscow
- 2005 Moscow power blackouts2005 Moscow power blackoutsOn 25 May 2005, Moscow's power supplies were the centre of a major incident, which resulted in the supply being outed for several hours in many of City of Moscow districts, as well as Moscow, Tula, Kaluga and Ryazan provinces...
- BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
's A10 AutobahnBundesautobahn 10runs in Brandenburg and is an orbital motorway around Berlin and is therefore called the Berliner Ring. It should not be confused with the Berliner Stadtring .... - LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's M25 motorwayM25 motorwayThe M25 motorway, or London Orbital, is a orbital motorway that almost encircles Greater London, England, in the United Kingdom. The motorway was first mooted early in the 20th century. A few sections, based on the now abandoned London Ringways plan, were constructed in the early 1970s and it ... - MadridMadridMadrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
's M40 ring road - ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
's Boulevard Périphérique - Washington, DC's Capital BeltwayInterstate 495 (Capital Beltway)Interstate 495 is a Interstate Highway that surrounds the United States' capital of Washington, D.C., and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. I-495 is widely known as the Capital Beltway or simply the Beltway, especially when the context of Washington, D.C., is clear...
- Houston's 610 Loop, Beltway 8, and Grand Parkway