Traffic along the Vitebsk interchange has opened in St. Petersburg
On December 22, 2024, a working movement opened in St. Petersburg along the Vitebsk interchange of the Western High-Speed Diameter, the first stage of the Latitudinal High–speed Highway. The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, launched a video conference on the new expressway. The grand opening of the first stage of the CMMSD was held as part of the opening ceremony of transport infrastructure facilities throughout Russia.
The event was attended by Alexander Beglov, Governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Belsky, Chairman of the Legislative Assembly, Nikolai Linchenko, Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg, Ivan Skladchikov, Chairman of the Investment Committee of St. Petersburg, Andrey Kostin, President and Chairman of the Management Board of VTB Bank, General Director of Avtozavod St. Petersburg LLC, Deputy Chairman of St. Petersburg- Ivan Mironov of the St. Petersburg RO Soyuzmash of Russia.
"In St. Petersburg‑Vitebsk interchange opens in St. Petersburg. It will become the first stage in the creation of a promising Latitudinal highway, which will allow citizens to build more convenient routes," the head of state said.
Alexander Beglov stressed that the project was made possible thanks to the great support of the President of Russia.
"Today is an important event for our city. We have fulfilled the President's instructions: we have completed the first stage of construction of our most important high–speed highway project, the Vitebsk Interchange. The highway will change the transport situation in the Northern Capital. It will provide access to the transit cargo area, and will transfer transit traffic flows from city streets to expressways, which is about 70,000 vehicles per day. Vitebsk interchange will directly connect the eastern districts with the center of St. Petersburg," said Alexander Beglov.
The new road runs east from the junction with the Western High-speed Diameter in the area of Blagodatnaya Street, passes in an overpass over Moskovsky Prospekt and then continues to Vitebsk Avenue. The Vitebsk interchange allows for a connection between the Moskovsky and Frunzensky districts and the ZSD, and will connect the ZSD with the next stages of the ZSD, which will create continuity of high-speed traffic in the direction of the eastern districts of St. Petersburg, and subsequently the Leningrad region. By increasing the accessibility of the WSD highway for residents of the southern districts of St. Petersburg, the Vitebsk interchange also gives motorists the opportunity to quickly reach the northern districts of the city or get to the ring Road with significant savings in fuel and travel time.
XCITE X-Cross 7 and X-Cross 8 cars, manufactured by Avtozavod St. Petersburg, were the first to pass through the Vitebsk interchange.‑St. Petersburg", and Lada Aura business sedans manufactured by AvtoVAZ JSC. On the occasion of the ceremonial launch of traffic on the new road, modern urban crossovers in white, blue and red colors lined up in a column in the colors of the Russian tricolor and overcame 2.6 km — the total length of the Vitebsk interchange.
The road has six lanes, three in each direction of travel. The estimated speed is 120 km/h.
Complex engineering and technological solutions were applied during the construction of the Vitebsk interchange. Two overpasses over railway tracks and an aboveground pedestrian crossing have been created, more than 600 drill piles and 202 supports have been installed, 4,012 meters of noise barriers, 20,000 tons of metal structures have been used.
Vitebsk interchange has become one of the first places in the city where a barrier—free travel system will be implemented - free-flow or "free flow" without barriers. Further stages of the SMSD will also work using the free-flow system. The fares for the Vitebsk interchange are comparable to those for the WSD.
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The construction of the Vitebsk interchange started in 2021. The work was carried out within the framework of a public-private partnership agreement between the city and the Northern Capital Highway. The total cost of the Vitebsk interchange construction under the PPP agreement is 38.9 billion rubles. The financing was carried out at the expense of federal funds, as well as from the budget of St. Petersburg and investments of a private partner.
Avtozavod Saint Petersburg LLC is a full–cycle enterprise with the necessary capacities for the production of cars. Currently, the plant produces two models of cars under its own XCITE brand using large-scale assembly technology.