OREANDA-NEWS. August 04, 2010. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) has considered a letter sent to FAS by the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation regarding repair works on several sections of the Leningrad Highway and the crossing over Oktyabrskaya Railway (24th km), which led to restricting the traffic area, closing ramps to the Moscow Ring Road and other adjacent roads and turnings as well as the exit to the Highway from Sheremetyevo airport, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

FAS made enquiries to the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, the Federal Service for Transport Control, the Federal Highway Agency, the Moscow Government and the Government of the Moscow Region.

Having analyzed the responses from the authorities, FAS Russia has concluded that traffic restriction on 24th km of Leningrad Highway in the area of crossing over Oktyabrskaya Railway, which was introduced due to necessary repair works, does not violate the antimonopoly law.

The crossing is built over the rail tracks on the high-speed section of the Oktyabrskaya Railway- a branch of "RZhD" OJSC- connecting Moscow and St Petersburg. Therefore, the technical condition of the crossing affects safety of railway and road traffic.

Conformity of road conditions to the rules, standards, technical norms and other normative documents on traffic safety is certified by inspection reports or road examination reports completed by the authorized executive bodies.

The crossover was inspected by the "Gormost" State Unitary Enterprise in October 2009, the Moscow Bridge-Testing Laboratory of the Engineering Supervision Unit, the Moscow City Department of Housing & Utilities and Public Services & Amenities - in November 2009; and by the Centre for Testing and Diagnostics of Engineering Constructions of "RZhD" OJSC - in May 2010. The inspections established the following:

- The strain members of slant legs and spans of the crossover are in disrepair, for some of which the wear rate reaching 70%. The load-bearing ability of the construction is reduced considerably, which makes railway and road traffic unsafe;

- Dynamic loading on the crossover results in intensive destruction of the concrete slabs on the road surface and slant legs and spans, which causes concrete pieces falling on the rail tracks;

- The crossover has dangerous flaws: destruction of the main reinforced concrete framing, pieces of concrete falling from slant legs and spans to the rail tracks, withdrawal of sand, mud and anti-ice agents to the rail tracks.

Inspections showed that those factors can create life threatening emergency situations and jeopardize traffic safety.

Under the law of the Russian Federation, decisions on temporary traffic restrictions due to reconstruction, capital repair and repair of roads as well as to ensure traffic safety are made by the owners of motor roads in agreement with the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate. If defects of and damage to motor roads and artificial road constructions that jeopardize traffic safety are discovered, temporary traffic restrictions must be put in immediately.

Traffic restriction on 24th km of Leningrad Highway crossing over Oktyabrskaya Railway by closing ramps from the Moscow Ring Road towards the Moscow region and closing traffic on four lanes out of six was introduced from 26th June 2010 due to unsatisfactory technical condition of the crossing (the Order of the Moscow Government "On temporary prohibition of freight transport through the crossing at 24th km of Leningrad Highway over the rail tracks of Oktyabrskaya Railway" and the instructions of Rostrannadzor (the Federal Service for Transport Control) of 23rd June 2010 on closing freight traffic on that section of the crossing.

Narrowing the traffic area due to the repair works resulted in considerable traffic congestion near the crossing.

To inform traffic participants about the road works, the contractor put 32 information boards and 21 road signs in Moscow from 17 to 23 June 2010. In addition, the contractor installed 148 road signs and four information boards from 26 to 28 June 2010 upon requests of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate.

At the same time, FAS Russia would like to emphasize that the system of informing the public about the forthcoming repair works was poorly designed. Due to lack of proper public notice, thousands of Muscovites spent several hours in traffic jams and many people missed their flights.

On the night of 30th June 2010, the traffic on the crossing was extended to four lanes out of six and the situation has improved.