Construction
The need for the construction of a beltway around St. Petersburg was first stated in the 1965 General Development Plan of Leningrad. The western segment of the road was planned to be constructed as a causeway part of a proposed flood-protection dam on the Gulf of Finland. In late 1979, the construction of the dam facilities commenced and by early 1990s a two-lane road connected the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland with the city of Kronstadt on the Kotlin Island. However, any further development of the dam and the Ring Road project was halted in 1992 due to the lack of financing in the midst of economic turmoil in Russia.
The construction of the Ring Road was resumed in 1998. The first freeway section of the Ring Road connecting the north terminus of the dam, near the Gorskaya train station, with the northern outskirts of St. Petersburg at Vyborgsky District was opened on December 26, 2002. By September 2006, the freeway segments of the Ring Road completed the eastern bypass around St. Petersburg with grade-separated junctions with the E-18/A-181 route in the northern segment, E-105/R-21 route in the eastern segment and E-105/M-10 route in the southern segment of the Ring Road. The completed part of the Ring Road included the cable-stayed Big Obukhovsky Bridge, the only non-bascule bridge across the main branch of the Neva River.
An interchange junction near the international Pulkovo Airport was opened in November 2007. By this time, the construction of the Ring Road resulted in a significant boost of the land value in the vicinity of the highway path and interchanges.
The south-western and western sections of the Ring Road including the dam facilities and the intersection with the E-20/A-180 route were gradually constructed throughout the late 2000s. The six-lane causeway across the Gulf of Finland comprises bridges, trestles, man-made islands, and a tunnel under the main shipping channel. After more than two decades of construction, the completed Ring Road was officially opened on August 12, 2011 by Prime Minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and Governor of St Petersburg, Valentina Matvienko, who inaugurated the dam facilities. The St. Petersburg Ring Road is notoriously noted of the delays and budget overspending during its construction.
Read more about this topic: Saint Petersburg Ring Road
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