The Moscow Automobile Ring Road (russian: link=no, Московская кольцевая автомобильная дорога, Moskovskaja koltsevaya avtomobilnaya doroga), or MKAD (), is a
ring road
A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...
running predominantly on the city border of
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
with a length of 108.9 km (67.7 mi) and 35 exits (including ten interchanges). It was completed in 1962. The speed limit is 100 km/h.
History
The growth of traffic in and around Moscow in the 1950s made the city planners realise Russia's largest
metropolis
A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.
A big c ...
needed a
bypass to redirect incoming traffic from major roads that run through the city. Opened in 1961, the MKAD had four lanes of asphalt running 108.9 kilometres along the city borders. Although not yet a
freeway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
, it featured
interchanges
Interchange may refer to:
Transport
* Interchange (road), a collection of ramps, exits, and entrances between two or more highways
* Interchange (freight rail), the transfer of freight cars between railroad companies
* Interchange station, a rai ...
at major
junctions, very few
traffic light
Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traf ...
s, and a speed limit of .
For a long time the MKAD served as the administrative boundary of Moscow city, until in the 1980s Moscow started annexing territory outside the beltway. In December 2002
Bulvar Dmitriya Donskogo
Bulvar Dmitriya Donskogo (russian: Бульвар Дмитрия Донского) is a Moscow Metro station in the Severnoye Butovo District, South-Western Administrative Okrug, Moscow, Russia. It is the southern terminus of the Serpukhovsko-Ti ...
became the first
Moscow Metro
The Moscow Metro) is a metro system serving the Russian capital of Moscow as well as the neighbouring cities of Krasnogorsk, Reutov, Lyubertsy and Kotelniki in Moscow Oblast. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first unde ...
station that opened beyond the limits of MKAD.
In 1995–1999, the road was widened from the initial four to ten lanes, while all
intersections became
grade-separated
In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tran ...
, bridges were built to accommodate pedestrians, traffic lights were removed, and a solid concrete barrier was installed in the
median
In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic fe ...
. In 2001, all slow-moving vehicles were banned from entering the MKAD, and the renovated road received a
freeway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
designation from the
mayor's office.
Route
Gallery
See also
Ring roads in Moscow:
*
Boulevard Ring
The Boulevard Ring (russian: Бульва́рное кольцо́; transliteration: ''Bulvarnoye Koltso'') is Moscow's second innermost ring road (the first is formed by the Central Squares of Moscow running along the former walls of Kitai-gorod ...
*
Garden Ring
The Garden Ring, also known as the "B" Ring (russian: Садо́вое кольцо́, кольцо́ "Б"; transliteration: ''Sadovoye Koltso''), is a circular ring road avenue around central Moscow, its course corresponding to what used to b ...
*
Third Ring Road
*
Central Ring Road
Comparison to other ring roads encircling big cities:
*
Saint Petersburg Ring Road
The Saint Petersburg Ring Road (russian: Кольцевая автомобильная дорога вокруг Санкт-Петербурга) is a 142 km (88 mile) orbital freeway encircling Saint Petersburg, Russia. The city's only b ...
*
Ring roads of Beijing
Beijing possesses multiple ring roads (or beltways).
1st Ring Road
When the city of Beijing had tram lines in operation from the 1920s to the 1950s, Line No. 4's route formed a ring-shaped loop, running 17-km clockwise through Tiananmen - Xida ...
*
London Orbital motorway
The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...
*
Washington, DC Beltway
*
A23 in Vienna
*
Boulevard Périphérique
The Boulevard Périphérique (), often called the Périph', is a controlled-access dual-carriageway ring road in Paris, France. With a few exceptions (see '' Structure and Layout''), it is situated along Paris's administrative limit.
The sp ...
and
Paris super-périphérique in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
*
Grande Raccordo Anulare
The GRA or Grande Raccordo Anulare (literally, "Great Ring Junction") is a toll-free, ring-shaped long orbital motorway that encircles Rome.
GRA is one of the most important roads in Rome, and traffic reaches 160,000 vehicles per day as of 20 ...
in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
*
Autopista de Circunvalación M-40
The M-40, in Spanish transport, is a Madrid orbital motorway. It is the second-outermost of the Madrid orbital highways, the M-30 being the closest to the centre of Madrid. It surrounds 17 out of the 21 districts of MadridOnly the outermost dis ...
and
M-50 (Spain)
The M-50 orbital motorway is the outermost ring road of Madrid and its metropolitan area. It has a length of 85 km and, unlike the other ring roads, doesn't form a closed ring, lacking a connection in the northwest between A-6 and A-1. It r ...
in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
*
Tokyo Central Circular Expressway,
Tokyo Outer Expressway, and four other regular roads, encircling
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
*
Express Ring Road in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
*
Minsk Ring Road
Notes and references
External links
The MKAD on Google Maps.A view of the MKAD from a pedestrian bridge.
{{Roads in Moscow
Geography of Moscow
Ring roads in Moscow
Transport in Moscow