Experts suggest a transport scheme to reduce traffic jams in centre of Chisinau

Experts recommend to create a scheme to tackle the traffic jam problem in the capital, and also to bond the districts, in order to avoid the congestion in the central zone of the city. Vladimir Bocacev, specialist at “Urbanproiect” Institute said Friday, January 26, during a public debate about the General Urban Plan (GUP) that the street network results from a radial scheme, according to which the Centre and suburbs are connected via a thoroughfare. But the link between the neighbours (the other districts) has remained undeveloped. At present, most of trolleybus and minibus routes operate in the centre of the capital, but according to a study, at least 30% of passengers from a district are forced to travel through the centre so as to reach the neighbour district. Experts assert that special stations should be established for the minibuses operating throughout the central zone, as their chaotic stops at the request of passengers create big traffic problems. As Bocacev says, during the day, all the streets, including the thoroughfares, are practically used as temporary parking spaces. This fact reduces the capacity of crossing the streets by 30% and makes the traffic difficult. According to specialists, the short-time car stops must be interdicted alongside the thoroughfares. Concurrently, it should be opportune to study new places for such parking spaces on secondary streets and design certain multilevel parking places. The optimisation and modernisation of the street network, suggested by GUP, require rehabilitating the existent street network by renovating the streets, working out a plan for placing the parking lots, stations and technologic areas for the public transport and creating bicycle paths.